Golden Sun III: Weyard's Awakening
by Tomegathericon
Summary: 2 years after breaking the seal on Alchemy, peace has returned to Weyard, something Isaac & Co. are ejoying to their fullest. Soon, however, they will face the consequences of their actions, as Weyard's past slowly emerges from its long slumber...
1. Prologue

**Author's notes:** This is a remake of a typical Golden Sun III fanfic I began writing on a couple of years ago, but sadly I never managed to get so far, mostly because I was so lazy. However, it has been picking on my mind ever since, so I have finally decided that I must try to finish it after putting so much time into it, and thus I will begin posting it here. Hopefully it will no longer butcher the English language as much as it did before.

As I said, it is a typical Golden Sun continuation has I've imagined it. As such, the personalities and developments of characters from the games are based on how I've interpretet them (or how I would like them to be), and I hope you'll come to like them, or at least accept them when I'm really pushing their personalities. I've put it as Adventure/Romance, but I wish I could add a third, which would be "Humour" since I can't help but making fun of characters every now and then. Even if there won't be much of it until later, I chose Romance over Humour basically in an attempt to lure in some shippers.

I'm warning you, though, that my efforts of cutting the length of the chapters have been impossible. The site were I originally posted this usually had very long fanfics, and my love for worthless details have actually made the remade chapters even longer.

_Disclaimer: "Golden Sun", "Golden Sun: the Lost Age" and everything connected to it belong to Nintendo and Camelot. All new characters and places however, belong to my twisted mind._

**XX**

_Weyard, a world blessed with the powers of Alchemy. However, something happened. Nobody remembers anymore, all they know is that a man tried to control the elements. He would have succeeded, if not a group of wise men had sealed the art of Alchemy and stopped the threat. Yet, sealing away Weyard's life source had terrible consequences. Large civilisations disappeared. The knowledge of their past vanished, leaving the next generation completely unaware of their history. As usual, facts changed into myths, then to legends, and finally they were forgotten. Weyard's secrets remained hidden for hundreds of years. Until one day, when a group of young warriors after many fiery struggles and hardships broke the seal of Alchemy. By breaking the seal, they saved Weyard, but also unlocked the keys to many of its secrets. It was only a matter of time before the ancient secrets of Weyard would be revealed, and some of them should have remained hidden and forgotten._

The reader closed his book with a snap; it was getting too dark to continue reading. He looked to his left and watched how his servant dutifully, but unsuccessfully, tried to light up a campfire. It had been raining for several days; the wood were simply too damp to catch fire.

"How far is it to Sol Sanctum?" he asked.

The servant gave up his failing attempts with a sigh. "If the map is correct, we should be there in a few days."

His master nodded in approval where he sat under the trees, which offered minimal protection from the rain. This fact caused a part of the servant's soul to shriek in protest, and without further ado he excused himself as he went deeper into the forest, desperately searching for anything close to dry wood.

Left alone, his master looked up at the sky, and smiled contentedly.

**XX**

The cloudy sky was a mix of grey and black, as if it also was filled with grief this day. After been ravaging with storms and strong winds, only small tears of rain now fell down on the crowd, who stood close around the Healer. Some shivered in the cold wind, others were crying and sought comfort from their friends and family. Only the Healer spoke this cold morning. His voice was strong, determined not to let the howl of the wind hide his words.

"May you find peace in the afterlife. You will always be here with us, even when your breaths have stopped..." The Healer turned around to the sad faces behind him, who looked at him with sorrow in their eyes. "He was a wise and honourable scholar, blessed with old age. May he be remembered for ages".

With this, the ceremony was over. Slowly, he walked on the road leading away from the cemetery, followed by the rest of the crowd. Even though this indeed was a sad day, there were chores that had to be done and a wish to get inside, away from the cold rain. Only four people remained at the grave, paying no heed to the chilly weather, or their soaked clothes.

"He never liked to be called old..." Jenna said, hiding a sob.

"I can't believe he is gone... It was only a few days ago he showed us his latest great discovery."

"I remember that, Felix. He found out that he could paint."

"Does anyone know why he only painted flowers?"

"No. He did say something, but I did not listen to him then. I was looking at his pictures." Isaac said a bit shamefully.

With the rain hiding any tears in their face, they silently mourned. Felix looked at the grave and remembered all the time they spent together with Kraden. He had been their respected teacher, and a valued companion when they had travelled all over Weyard, faced danger and hardships together. He even remembered when Kraden first came to Vale. Felix was three years old back then, and his first thought had been that the old man in strange clothes both looked and was funny. Kraden used to tell him and his friends stories about the world outside their village. He always said, that he one day would show the world for them. Well, he sure had kept his promise...

Felix looked up in the sky. Unnoticed to them the rain had stopped. The clouds were disappearing and through them a blazing sun began to shine upon them.

"Everyone..." he said, "We must go now. Our parents are probably waiting for us to come and help them."

"Can't we just hide in the forest until tomorrow instead?" Garet suggested.

"No." Jenna said. "What kind of a man are you if you don't even want to do simple housework? You must even if you don't want to."

Garet muttered insults aimed at cleaning as they walked towards Vale, but it didn't bother them. Him moaning during spring-cleaning had become some sort of tradition as well, it would be awkward without it.

As they climbed the last hill the road split in a crossroad, and they were offered a grand view of the rebuilt village slowly waking up. Then, as they were about to continue on, they were all of a sudden one man short.

"What is it, Isaac?" Jenna curiously wondered as she turned to Isaac, who, with a hint of being unsure of where he wanted to go, had remained at the crossroad.

"I think I'm going to the ruins. Just... need to be alone right now."

Felix nodded his head. This too seemed to have become a tradition.

"I understand Isaac." Come back when you're ok."

Isaac smiled and walked away from them along the other path.

"Hey Isaac!" Garet shouted after him. "Don't let me do all the work. Come back in time!"

"I will. Don't worry."

**XX**

Sol Sanctum and the remains of the first Vale... After the earthquake caused by Mt. Aleph, they had rebuilt their village south of the former mountain. The ruins of the temple had mostly remained untouched, except for a few of Kraden's excavations for relics.

Two years ago he, his father and Garet stood here and saw their hometown destroyed. However, even if Mt. Aleph swallowed the entire mountain and trashed the village to the ground, the villagers had been safe. Thanks to the Wise One, ironically...

Isaac walked up the hill and gazed at the devastated landscape, now bathing in sunshine. It looked exactly like it did three yours ago; houses crushed to rubble, the river dried of water with sand and dust covering the ground in its absence. At the other end of the valley, the once glorious Mt. Aleph was nothing more than a huge pile of rocks.

He stood there, and thought for himself once again. The funeral lingered in his mind; it was sad that the others couldn't be here, but they lived too far away. Sheba was in Lalivero, Piers in Lemuria or sailing around the world somewhere, Isaac wasn't sure anymore. Mia, as dutifully as she is, returned to Imil and Ivan moved to Contigo together with his sister Hamma. They will all be chocked when hey hear about Kraden's passing.

He sighed at the thought of the distance between everyone. They had barely seen each other since they released Alchemy, something which haunted Isaac day and night. For two years Alchemy had existed in Weyard, yet there was little or no change at all. There were no signs of the dangers the Wise One had foretold them about. Two years of peace and quiet, and this was surprisingly the main reason for Isaac's worry.

"It's strange. Nothing seems to have changed!" Isaac reminded himself tediously . "No new adepts are born, the towns and villages are all the same, and the monsters are disappearing! Why hasn't anything happened? Why would he warn us if there's nothing to be worry about?"

Did Alchemy need more time? Isaac would have been at ease if something had actually happened. He did trust the words of the Wise One, so when this something remained hidden, he was getting more and more concerned. If they had to act, how would they contact each other? They were spread out across all of Weyard, how could they possibly prepare for anything? What were they supposed to do?

"Or if we're already long gone when it happens..." he silently said. "All those new adepts that may be born... how are we supposed to guide them when we're no longer here?"

What if one would become a new Alex...

"Are you still thinking about that again, Isaac?" a high-pitched voice from his left shoulder said.

"You have been worried ever since we returned to Vale", a second voice said.

"C'mon get a life!" a third voice said.

"Shut up, Vine." Flint snapped and slapped the djinn with his tail.

Isaac turned his head to see Flint, Vine and Sap sitting on his shoulders, looking at him with their round, azure eyes.

"Aren't you worried about the future too?" he asked the djinni.

"Not really. I mean, you are the one who takes care of this 'saving-the-world' stuff."

"Hey! We are a part of it too!"

"Sure, Sap. You're just sleeping in his foot."

"No! It's Mold!...I swear!"

Isaac shook his head and laugh. Ever since their return the djinn had been restless and were picking fights with each other for any simple reason. There were nothing to do about it; it was just the way they were, and they didn't listen to him anyway when he told them to stop.

Yet this time the djinn ceased the fighting surprisingly early and turned their attention to their host - dear friend and his troubles.

"C'mon buddy." Sap said encouragingly. " It's spring-cleaning. Don't worry about things that haven't happened and start worrying about those that _will_ happen."

"Like, how you will prevent Garet from destroying your roof again."

This caused Isaac to temporarily shift gears in his mind. "Good point. I was thinking of putting a steak on a table nearby, but it didn't work last year for some reason-"

Sap discreetly did his best to hide behind his fellow kinsmen.

"- so I was planning to simply take the ladder up with me . But that seems a little... Hey, stop changing the subject! I'm pondering a serious problem here!"

The djinn moaned in chorus.

"Honestly Isaac," Flint shook his little head, "you really aren't suited for all this heavy thinking. Messes up your head."

Isaac's face got that look the djinn now recognized as his very serious one. "And what about Alex? We didn't find his body."

The djinn moaned even louder this time.

"Does the blue-haired freak still haunt you? Of course you couldn't find anything, he was atop a mountain that was pulled into the very earth! He's eternally resting in a tomb of mud and crushed rocks."

"And all the other things; what does this yearly talking-to-myself-about-future-dangers stuff you do help? If they really mean that much to you, then actually do something about them! By the way, I was no way near that steak if you're-"

"Good point!" Vine shouted. "But do it later, okay? Relax instead of walking around like a doomsday prophet. Just for today. Then you can be concerned as much as you want."

Isaac smiled, but remained quiet. The djinn were lucky to not having to care about anything. He looked at the ruins again. The remains that once were his home were now covered by rocks and earth, yet it was a sort of serene peace.

That belonged to the past. Everything was fine now, he told himself. Actually, everything had been fine the last two years.

"You're right." He finally agreed. "I must stop being worried all the time. I'll fix this, somehow. No use sulking over it now, right?"

He looked down on the ground. A small plant was growing on the ground. It was very young. It would take time before it would grow into a beautiful flower. "It's still too early to think about it."

"Good you finally realized it", Vine happily said. "So, shall we go and start working?"

"You bet", Isaac answered with a broad smile.

He turned around, and began to walk away from the ruins.

Away from the past, and on to the new Vale.


	2. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Author's note:** _In the beginning, the prologue and this chapter was merged. I divided them in hope that they would be shorter this way. In this remake, I instead manage to get the new chapter 1 just as long as the original combined prologue+chapter1.._

--

_"I'm starting to feel that this is only a beginning"_

- _The Healer in Bilibin_

**XX**

Garet sat down on the bench and dried away the sweat on his forehead with his arm. He had worked for hours. Ever since the funeral he had been forced to cut wood and help his neighbour fix a worn-out fence, tend to the garden and, worse of all, carry out barrels of spoiled food. It had been hard work, but throw away precious food? Sure, it might have smelled a little odd, but food is supposed to be eaten!

"Why must I do all this?" he tiredly sighed. "And where's Isaac?" He took his water bottle and opened it. He tried to drink some, but nothing came out of it. It was empty. "Man...it's not fair". He angrily threw away the bottle.

"Garet!!" a dark, malicious voice shouted.

"Yikes!" Garet quickly stood up and looked around. His inner instincts told him to hide himself somewhere immediately. Without a second thought he jumped behind some barrels and hugged the grass.

"Garet!!" His sister was really angry. He didn't know why. He usually never did.

She walked up to where he had been and shouted after him again. She tried some more times, but she couldn't find her brother.

"Garet! You can't hide! I will find you!!"

"No, you won't", Garet thought and couldn't stop from laughing in his head.

Suddenly, the sister saw Felix coming. He was carrying a pair of thick, dusty carpets from one of the cottages. She quickly ran towards him.

"Why are you running like that?" Felix wondered and stopped. "Have something happened?"

"Sort of", She said angrily. "Where is Garet?"

Felix took a quick look around the nearby furniture.

"He's over there." he said and with little effort was able to point out Garet's hideout.

"Damn you, Felix!" Garet shouted and fled from the plaza.

"Garet! Come back right now!" His sister screamed and ran after him.

Felix shrugged his shoulders and continued to work. Involving himself in their family disputes was something he'd learned to stay out of.

"Just a few more and I'm finished", he thought as he put down the carpets and headed back.

**XX**

Isaac opened the door to their new house and entered. It was all quiet inside.

"Mom? Dad?" he tried.

No one answered. They were probably outside somewhere. Not too long afterwards though, he heard a soft, sugar sweet voice coming from the kitchen. "Oh, hello, my dear son! Had a rough day?"

Isaac rolled his eyes. He could no longer see the amusing part of it after two years of constant repeating. "Funny," he said. "Come out here, now!"

Bane walked out from the kitchen and sat down in front of him. Isaac could swear his blue eyes sparkled.

"Oh?" the djinni said with the same, soft voice. "Is my little Isaac upset? Want a cookie?"

"Bane, stop. Where is everyone?"

"Well. lets see... Ground is sleeping in your armour upstairs, your parents are helping with the laundry down by the river, Granite is haunting chicken outside, and I'm here guarding the house from rats. Want to guess on a scale how boring it is?"

The sound of screaming, horrified chickens outside informed them of Granites arrival. The djinni entered the house, laughing like a maniac.

"Oh, my. Bane, you got to come with me next time. It's so fun! Oh, hi Isaac. Done with the worry-myself-sick party?"

Isaac felt how his cheeks reddened by how well the djinn seemed to know him. "Hi Granite", he muttered.

Then they heard someone walking down the stairs behind them. Ground jumped, one step at a time, down the stairs, and judging from the look of him he wasn't happy.

"Just _who_ can sleep when you're screaming like crazy monkeys?" he half complained, half yawned.

"Good morning Ground", they all said.

"Well, it seems like the entire family is here now", Flint spoke has he appeared on Isaac's shoulder. "By the way, weren't you supposed to go down and help Garet?"

"Oh no!" Isaac realized. "I totally forgot!"

"Again", the djinn added, which he tried his best to ignore.

He rushed out of the house and hurried towards the plaza, where Garet's family now resided. Silently he hoped they could forgive him. Again. Or at least Garet's sister. If not... The mere thought sent shivers down Isaac's spine and made him run so fast trough Vale that the three djinn had problems keeping up with him. Just has he rounded a corner Isaac noticed something big and red and brown running towards him at great speed.

"Watch out!" Garet screamed and ran past Isaac. His sister ran after him and from what Isaac could see she was closing in on him.

"Garet! I said stop!" Isaac heard her shriek as they disappeared around the corner. The djinn finally caught up to him and jumped up on his shoulders, wheezing and gasping for air.

"What... was that... all about?" Granite wondered between his deep breaths.

Isaac didn't answer. It was impossible to guess what Garet had done this time, and it was best if he didn't pry too deep into it. Involving himself in their family disputes was something he'd learned to stay out of.

Flint, who snuggled himself inside Isaac's scarf, got his host's attention by continually waving his tail in front of him.

"Is it just me", he asked when he was sure he was the centre of attention, "or do you suddenly don't have any work to do now when Garet's... preoccupied?"

Isaac pondered over this. "Point. But, I must do something. There are still things to be done..."

"Exactly!"

He didn't know how or when, but suddenly he was holding a very large basket, filled with what seemed, and smelled as, dirty furs.

Jenna smirked at him "There's much more work to be done and you won't get away from it."

She grabbed his arm and firmly led him to the river, which Isaac, much to his dismay, now remembered as being ice-cold this time of year.

**XX**

The night was silent, void of any of the commotion from earlier. Sitting by a small cliff close to the river, Isaac, Jenna, Felix and Garet rested from a hard day's work and watched the villagers as they gathered at the plaza. They had made an unsuccessful attempt to make Garet tell them what he had done to make his sister so angry; he'd been stubborn and refused to answer every time they asked. The only thing he said was, "It was nothing."

"Anyway, I'm exhausted..." Garet groaned where he lay in the grass. "I feel like I could fall asleep any minute now."

Jenna grinned when she heard this. "Oh really? You didn't do all that much, you were just desperately running from your sister."

"Can we _please_ drop that?" Garet said, clearly annoyed, and then glanced at Isaac. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I.. can't... feel... my arms..." his friend stuttered.

Felix looked at his sister, who showed signs of amusement rather than remorse over Isaac's current condition. He sighed and brotherly ruffled her hair. "I think someone here made someone work too long in the river."

"I have no idea what you're talking about", she said confidently.

Any further accusations were abruptly interrupted when the sound of music and laughter filled the air. Over at the plaza, in the light of a recently lit bonfire, many of the villagers could be seen dancing.

Despite his claims of utter exhaustion, Garet more or less leaped up from the ground after a quick glance at Jenna.

"Jenna, would you like to-"

"Let's go dance, Isaac!"

Without waiting for a reply Jenna grabbed his hand and pulled a dumbfounded Isaac towards the plaza, leaving Garet standing there.

"-never mind...". He felt like a fool as he sat down again.

He could see how Felix rose up to follow the other two, but not before he in an act of encouragement patted Garet on his shoulder.

"Geez, I feel so much better now..." Garet sighed when he was left alone at the cliff.

"Don't worry, you'll always have me."

Without a word Garet grabbed Fever off his shoulder and dropped the djinni into the river.

**XX**

Some time later Garet walked through the dark streets of Vale, deliberately avoiding the plaza, cursing the entire day. First Kraden's burial; he couldn't believe they'd never see the old man again, then all the hard work plus his sister, who was angry about some water bottle hitting her head or something, and when he this year actually managed to ask Jenna... she hadn't even noticed he was talking with her. Everything repeated itself on that front, it seemed.

"Better luck next year!" Fury said as he appeared nestled inside Garet's spiky hair.

Garet didn't even bother to talk back. There was no point in it.

He noticed that he had arrived at the town's gate, so he turned around and continued down another road. They were all clouded in darkness. Only the moon gave some light, but it didn't help much. He could barely see anything in front of him.

Due to this, there was no warning when someone appeared out of nowhere and collided with him.

"Watch your steps!" Garet shouted and looked to see which of the villagers were sharing his mood for a walk in the night.

To his surprise, it wasn't anyone he could recognize. The tall man in front of him, surely only a few years older than himself, was completely unfamiliar to Garet. The face looked young, yet firm, and the short hair was so pitch black that it barely was visible in the night. Garet was about to ask him who he was, when he noticed the stare from the man's amber eyes. They were threatening him, he could feel it as they seemed to glow in the dark and kept watching him. Out of pure instinct Garet's hand moved to where his sword used to be.

Then the man without a word turned and walked away from him, as if nothing had happened.

"Well", Garet thought as he watched the man's back, "what a nice guy."

"I don't like him", Fury said and burrowed himself deeper into the hair. "He looks scary."

Garet slowly began to follow the outsider's path. "You're right, he is scary."

As he reached a fork in the road he spotted the stranger again, not heading down towards the plaza but instead to the hill where they'd constructed their new Sanctum. Garet looked over at the plaza; he could see the dancers and short glances of Isaac as he frantically tried to keep the pace. For a short second he was considering going to them and tell them about this, but...

Bah! Why should he? This was nothing for him to worry about.

Since newcomer's rarely walked around town in the middle of the night without even introducing themselves to the inhabitants, Garet felt no quarrels as he ran ahead of the man, facing him as he blocked the path.

"Hey! Who are you?" he demanded to know.

The stranger didn't even look at him as he kept walking.

"You! Answer my question." Garet could feel how he was losing his temper.

He were standing just outside the Sanctum, yet the man showed no signs of listening to him. Garet could no longer stand being treated like nothing, so when he was within reach he grabbed the man's shoulder and forced him to stop, staring coldly into his eyes.

"Stand still and answer me! Who are you!?"

For once, the man actually seemed to acknowledge Garet's existence when he looked at him this time, and knocked off Garet's hand. His eyes glowed like a wild animal's.

"What?" Garet began. He didn't manage to say more before the man grabbed his face. He never really noticed what happened. There was a sharp flash of pain, flowing through his entire body. Anxiety, weakness, it all made him feel sick. He remembered the blurred shapes of houses passing by, then the screams and the pain when he landed right among the dancers in the plaza.

The next second he felt as if he flew up on his feet again, until he realized he was being lifted by Isaac and Felix, who had hurried to his side.

"Garet, what are you doing!?" Jenna's shock could easily be heard in her voice, but was changed to concern as she saw his disoriented face. "Are you alright?"

Garet shook them of him as he tried to get his bearings. Slowly, the world stopped to twist and turns and started to make sense again. He recalled himself trying to stop some suspicious guy, who then...

"That bastard attacked me!" he shouted out as his initial confusion disappeared.

The villagers and Jenna gave him a puzzled look. "Who attacked you?" she asked.

The peace and quiet that had rule over Vale, were violently overthrown when the ear-splitting sound of an explosion ripped through the air and shook the ground. Stones rained down over the plaza, and it was but a miracle that no one was seriously hurt by them.

"What's going on?" Isaac shouted as he watched the panicking villagers escaping from the plaza, frantically searching for the explosions source.

"The Sanctum! Look!"

The scream from a villager instantly made Isaac turn towards where their Sanctum lay and, which he now realized, also was where Garet had came flying from. What he saw, was nothing. Atop the hill was no longer a Sanctum, only crushed rocks and a pillar of smoke rising to the sky.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Isaac shouted to the villagers, even though they more or less already had done this obvious thing to do. Looking at the others, he knew there was no need to tell them what to do. After making sure Garet was feeling alright, they hurried as fast as they could toward the hill.

**XX**

Just before they reached the Sanctum another explosion scorched the top, sending more rocks and earth into the air. When they finally arrived at what remained of the entrance, they saw that Garet indeed had been right in what he rapidly had told them on the way here.

In the centre of the destruction stood a lone man, seemingly oblivious of their arrival. In the combined light from the moon and the knocked-over candles they could clearly see the assailant's features, dominated by a black, metal armour with a symbol of three silver-coloured circles on it. It was rather plain, but more from a practical point of view, lacking any unnecessary decorations except from the already mentioned symbol. It covered his chest and his upper arms and thighs, the rest were only protected by pieces of chain mail and leather, yet not in such amounts that it would hamper his movements. From his belt hung the sheaths belonging to a pair of swords.

However, what struck them was the eyes. The amber eyes gleamed in the light as they moved back and forth across the ground, searching for something with a maddened desire.

Felix was the one who took a step forward. "Who are you?" he said loud and clear, pushing in as much control and resolve as he could in every word. "Why have you destroyed our Sanctum?"

Garet shook his head. He already knew what the stranger would say. Nothing. The man paid them the same amount of attention he would have done to garbage.

"I'm talking to you!" Felix shouted and reached for his sword. "Otherwise..."

The rest of them also instinctively grabbed their weapons. Problem was, they now remembered they no longer carried them. A quick awkward glance at each other told them that they all had left them at home, the result of this two year long time of peacefulness.

In this moment the man stopped his search of the ruined floor, and raised his head with a distant look on his face.

"Of course", they heard him whisper. "Sol Sanctum." He wasn't talking to them.

He attempted to go down the stairs, but Isaac stood in his way. NOW he realized that four warriors had surrounded him, unarmed but still angrily staring at him. His gaze fell at Isaac; his eyes seemed to pierce right trough him. Isaac's own gaze didn't falter as they met; despite their lack of weapons, he would clearly show they weren't going to let this criminal get away with this.

Unexpected, the man began to laugh. A loud, wicked laugh, bordering on hysterically, as if he had found something outright hilarious.

"I'll give you a choice."

The very first words they heard from this man differed greatly from the behaviour they'd just seen. They didn't belong to a maniac; instead they were from the sane, unwavering voice of a sure victor. "Leave, or face the consequences."

Jenna glowed for a second, then her hands burst into flames. "You have messed with the wrong town. We won't even give you a choice."

Agreeing with her, Garet's created a flame in his hand, showing the man he was not facing a handful of brave village fools, but a group of skilled adepts determined to fight.

Yet, a sight which earlier had made enemies tremble in fear did not cause this man to either flinch or show any signs of surprise.

"As you will."

The man closed his eyes, then immediately opened them again. His body began to blaze in the unmistakeable glow of psynergy, yet it was a glow that was dark and frightening, seemingly consuming all light around them.

"Oh my", Felix whispered. "Watch out! He's an adept!"

They all took several steps backwards as the darkness glowed stronger and stronger, sparkling out of the man in rays of shadows. At its crescendo he raised his arms toward the sky, and the ghastly void left his body and plunged upwards.

A sickening feeling of nausea fell over them when the void literally tore a piece of the sky apart, creating a rift into something nightmarishly sinister and dark. Isaac could barely believe his own eyes, when a pair of talons clawed their way out of the hole, soon followed by the rest of the body.

It was a hellish sight, something unreal, not belonging to this world. The... creature could once have been a dragon, yet now it was a twisted form of rotten skin and bone, fumes of sulphur oozing from its shattered jaw. The gelatinous orbs that were supposed to be its eyes focused on them as the fumes grew stronger and stronger.

The man was nowhere to be seen.

A curse flew through Isaac's mind as he realized it, knowing they were trapped in a distraction they couldn't ignore. What could such a fiend to the village if they turned their backs at it and left?

The beast raised its head and neck, inhaling in preparation of whatever he was planning to burn them with. Out of options Isaac chose the only one he surely knew worked in situations like this: the cheap one.

"Granite!" He shouted as loud as he could, even though he never doubted the djinns' ability to always help them when called for.

Immediately Garet followed him and inside his mind he screamed the name of Flash.

Out of the two adepts two globes of light emerged and flew wildly around them. Within a second a transparent wall of earth and fire protected them, and the two djinn landed softly on the ground, awaiting the praise that was sure to come. With battle-readiness flashing in their round eyes, they turned to see what manner of creature they were facing this time.

"Uh, guys?" Flash hesitated. "What's the problem?"

"Just protect us from that... dragon's flames!" Garet answered, failing to notice just what the djinni was talking about.

"What dragon?" The sound of confusion in Granite's voice was genuine.

This certainly was the first time they'd heard the djinn say something like that, especially when the 'dragon' in question, several hundred times the size of a djinni, was standing right in front of their eyes.

"It's right in front of you!" Felix pointed out, yet he stopped as he saw the dragon's head push forward, firing foul, reeking flames at them. "Look out!"

"What? That thing?" The djinni now seemed to notice. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Look!"

The shields created by the two djinn faded within a second, leaving them defenceless.

"You idioooooo-" Garet screamed, furious out of his mind.

The flames engulfed him and the others, who in desperation covered their faces with their arms, believing this to be their last moment in life. Then, they slowly realized they were still standing and, most importantly, still breathing.

"-oooots!" Garet looked up, feeling unusually well for someone who was supposed to have been burned to a crisp. "Huh?"

Isaac opened his eyes. He had seen the flames, the monster was still in front of them, so why was he still...?

Slowly, he began to notice the changes. The hellish fiend all of a sudden felt blur, as if it was being covered in a mist. Piece by piece his subconscious showed him the truth, and piece by piece the monster faded away, until it finally disappeared without a trace, taking with it the rift in the sky, and the disgusting atmosphere.

"Is.. is everyone alright?" Isaac finally managed to ask.

He looked around at everyone. Felix and Garet both nodded, yet their faces were ghostly pale. His own most likely mirrored theirs.

"Jenna?"

She was standing with her back against them, arms crossed. "I'm fine!" She said with a strained voice, obviously not wanting them to look at her.

A cackle burst out from Flash. "You should have seen the look on your faces! Priceless!" The djinni said with a tear in his eyes. "You really thought you were going to die, didn't you? Oh, and Jenna, what was up with the-"

The heavy, booted foot of Garet stomped the djinni into the mud before he got to say anything Jenna clearly didn't want them to hear.

"Don't do that again!" He shouted.

"Got it..." a weak voice from beneath his foot croaked.

They turned around, looking for their foe that was nowhere to be seen. Where could he have-

"Sol Sanctum!" Isaac burst out. "He's going to Sol Sanctum!"

But, as doubt entered his mind, he asked himself what anyone could want with those ruins now? Only a pile of rocks remained of the ancient mountain, the rest had been pulled down into the earth.

However, this wasn't the time to try and make some sense out of all this.

"We'll catch him there! Come!" Isaac told the others.

Jenna turned to face him, her eyes a bit red. "What about our weapons?" she said, her voice still strained.

"We.. we don't have time! We can take him with our psynergy", Isaac decided hesitantly.

"That's right!" Garet wholeheartedly agreed. "That coward only tricked us to buy some time! We'll take him in a real fight!"

They ran down the hill, through the now bizarrely quiet village and headed along the path leading to Sol Sanctum. As they ran, Isaac's mind wandered off to the 'trick' they had been faced with. It had clearly been psynergy, he could recognize that glow anytime, anywhere, but he had never seen anything like that. It had felt so real, seemed so real, but it had all been fake? What psynergy is capable of doing that?

"Isaac!" A sharp voice yelled inside his head. "Stop thinking, start fighting!"

"Yeah, totally! We finally get a dude to fight and we don't want you ruining our mood here!"

"That's right! Oh, and just in case you're suspecting something, I swear I was several miles away from the steak. Personally I think it was Vine."

"Hey!"

Calm down, calm down, he again and again told the djinn before their yelling gave him a headache. He couldn't have them start a dispute at a time like this.

**XX**

When they crossed the last hill the full moon gave them an excellent view of Sol Sanctum in all its former splendour. Yet, the stranger was nowhere to be seen.

With a few efforts they reached the edges of the rock-covered area that had been the mountain. It was quiet.

Isaac looked around in distress. "I could've sworn I heard him say Sol Sanctum!"

"I heard it as well", Felix said, his eyes watching the surroundings. "Could he have gotten away?"

Garet was furious. "Impossible! That is-"

Before he got to finish his sentence, a pillar of stones and mud burst out of the ground a dozen metres away from them. Out of the newly formed hole, the very man they were looking for crawled out, coughing and, strangely, laughing. As he rose to his full length, his back against Isaac and the others, he held forth his right hand towards the light of the moon, as if he examined something.

He didn't seem to have noticed them at all. Lucky for them, too bad for him.

Without a moment's hesitation the four of them focused. They shut out the world around them, concentrating merely on the psynergy flowing through their bodies. They channelled it, formed it, and used their hands as conduits to the power they built up. Almost in synch, they opened their hands and unleashed their psynergy.

Garet's and Jenna's palms ignited, blasting out a searing beam of fire right at their opponent. Isaac and Felix focused on the air above the man, and out of thin air numerous razor-sharp spires appeared and plummeted downwards.

The man, suddenly beware of the unusual rise in the local temperature, turned his head in their direction. As his eyes noticed the impending amounts of pain his body once more began to glow in that odd psynergy. The burning flames dissolved and died out right before touching him, and above the spires crumbled to dust, which softly rained down on him.

If he had not shown any signs of anger or frustration over being interrupted before, it was all changed now when his amber eyes narrowed in a primal fury. Clenching his right hand he glowed, sparkling in psynergy.

"Bothersome brats!" he hissed.

In the air around him several dozen needles materialized, shimmering in a poisonous, purple light. At first they simply hovered there, then, with a swift motion from his hand, they plunged forward. In a moment of hesitation, Isaac, as well as the others, wondered if this was just another trick from him. Yet, using the same ploy again made no sense.

Deciding not to take any chances Isaac threw himself to the ground, and felt how the air fizzled when the needles flew by. In the corner of his eyes he could see how Garet and Felix managed to dive for cover as well.

Although they'd all hesitated for a short time, Jenna reacted a second too late. As she attempted to jump out of the way, a needle hit her in the leg and disappeared into her, leaving no wound or marks on her. Crying out in pain Jenna lost her footing, and as she stumbled forward a handful of more needles struck her.

"Jenna!" Felix shouted when he saw his sister wobbly trying to remain standing.

Jenna looked at her brother at the sound of his voice. Her face was a shocked one, slowly losing its colour.

"F...Felix?"

Her world slipped into darkness...

"Jenna!" Felix ran and managed to catch her before she hit the ground "Jenna!!"

Isaac and Garet rose quickly, a boiling rage growing inside them. However, before they got to unleash their anger at the one responsible for this, the stranger smiled amusedly and glowed in his odd psynergy once more. In a few seconds a veil of black smoke emerged from his feet, engulfed him, and when the smoke was blown away by the winds, he was gone. No trace was left of him, and he was nowhere to be seen.

"Jenna!! No!" Felix screamed at the top of his lungs. He lifted her up in his arms as he furiously turned around trying to see their enemy. "Where is he!? I'm going to kill him!!"

Jenna barely breathed as her body burst out in a series of violent spasms.

"Felix, he's gone!" Garet said, disgusted of being right for once. "We can't look for him now, we must take Jenna to the Healer, fast!"

Slowly accepting the fact and understanding that Garet was right, Felix nodded. As they rushed back to the village he carefully patted Jenna's boiling forehead.

"Don't worry, Jenna. You'll be fine..." he said almost desperately, as if he was trying to convince himself of it.


	3. Chapter 2: To Imil

**Author's note:** This chapter is rather uneventful and simple (in animés such dreaded episodes are known as _"fillers"_). This is mostly because I removed the eventful part because it wasn't necessary here and decided to move it to the next chapter instead, thus they only travel here. Oh, and I also jump a lot here, because I realized travelling is not that interesting if nothing happens.

**--**

_"Once Felix gets an idea into his head, he rarely changes his mind"_

- _Alex_

**XX**

Isaac yawned. He was so sleepy. They had been here in the inn for such a long time. After the Sanctum was destroyed, they'd had to bring Jenna here, where the Healer now lived temporarily.

"How long have we been here?" he wondered for himself. It must have been the whole night, because it was morning now. Outside the window he could see the sun rise and colour the sky, yet this beautiful view was disturbed by the villagers, who were cleaning up their homes of the stone debris from yesterday.

"Yesterday... ", he groaned. Any sort of trouble had seemed so far away and then all this happened...

Isaac tried to rise, but fell down again. He was too tired and his back hurt. Ever since they took Jenna here he had been waiting on the same spot the entire night. That had been strenuous, and maybe not such a good idea, he realized now, but he couldn't sleep before he knew if Jenna was cured. She had looked like she was about to die at any second; her face sickly pale and barely breathing. Why wasn't she healed yet? It couldn't be so bad, could it? After all this time she should be walking out of the door and say "Hey guys! Did you really think such a weak poison would take me down?" and they would laugh at themselves for worrying of such a trivial thing. They had faced worst.

Through the wall to the other room he could still hear the Healer's prayers . Felix and his parents were in there too, but they were quiet. Isaac and Garet hadn't been allowed in, despite their protests. The Healer said that the room was too small for everyone, but a small part of Isaac's mind said that the Healer only wanted family members nearby, as if Jenna's condition was worse than they thought.

So all they could do, was waiting outside and hope she would be alright.

At the other end of the small hallway he saw Garet still walked back and forth across the floor. By the look of him Isaac could see that he was despaired. His hands, shaking from frustration, were proof alone.

Garet stopped when he came close to Isaac. "Why isn't she healed yet?"

Isaac's closed his eyes. He wished he knew.

"Maybe he needs more healing herbs?" Garet continued in an attempt to start a conversation.

He meant the fact that the Healer lost almost all of his medicine when his Sanctum was destroyed, yet Isaac shook his head. It couldn't be that simple. There was something else...

All of a sudden their little talk ended when they heard a loud roar from the other room. Isaac rushed up as Garet snatched the door open, and they ran inside.

All the beds had been put along the walls, except one who was placed in the middle of the room. Jenna laid there, still unconscious and pale, yet she seemed to have an easier time breathing. Her face was serene, as if she was merely sleeping, but what really got their attention was Felix, who had grabbed the Healer by his coat and held him a few inches above the floor.

Felix shook him violently. "What do you mean!?"

Felix's parents were just as shocked as Isaac and Garet over their son's behaviour, and told him to let the old man down immediately. However, Felix wasn't responding to anything they said.

"I told you I ca.." the Healer tried.

"It's just a poison! You have healed worse, you can cure her!"

By the look of it Felix was out of his mind so Isaac and Garet quickly grabbed Felix's shoulders and pulled him back, forcing him to drop the Healer. When he was free he ran to shelter behind some beds, terrified of the angry youth.

Isaac turned Felix so they stood face to face. "Felix, calm down! What is it?"

The fury in Felix's eyes disappeared slowly. Instead it was replaced with sorrow and pain. He seemed to have grown a hundred years older. He tried to say something, but when the words got stuck in his throat, he just looked down at the floor without answering. His parents' eyes were red, barely able to hold back the incoming tears.

Garet looked at Jenna. Her face, pale as a sheet, stung his chest. "She... can't be cured?" he dared to say.

The parents began crying uncontrollably and Garet regretted his words immediately. The experience of being right hadn't been as exciting as he had imagined.

Behind them the Healer cautiously rose from his hideout. "I have used all my knowledge and tools to heal her", he painfully told them. "But, like I said to Felix, at best they only temporarily improve her condition... I can't cure her."

"It just a damn poisoning! You have healed much worse ailments before!"

The Healer ignored Felix's outburst. "To my understanding, it's not a normal poisoning. I'm not even sure it is one. There's something strange with it; a normal poison is easily cured with an antidote, yet no matter what I use her body refuses to heal. I can't cure her, even if I used all my powers."

He looked sadly at Jenna. "I don't know why I fail, but I know this. Her condition will only get worse. I can slow it down, but if we can't do anything about it she may..."

"Are you telling me she will die!?" Garet shouted, making the parents' crying worse.

"She will not die!" Felix screamed. "We will help her!"

Isaac tried to think, despite his mind being blur because of the terrible news. If the Healer couldn't help her, who could?

Felix was angrily walking around the room in circles. "We just need more help", he said to no one in regular.

The Healer was a great adept. But if he couldn't help them they needed a stronger one. A stronger healer...Isaac slowly nodded his head. Before him he could see the image of a blue-haired girl giving them all a warm smile.

"We must go to Mia. If someone can heal Jenna, it's her". Everyone turned their heads to him when he said it.

Garet smacked his forehead. Of course! Mia! why didn't they think about that? She was, to them, the best healer in all of Weyard.

"Perfect!" He said out loud, until the problems of reality fell down on his head. "But it's a very long way to Imil. A four-days travel back and forth. Will we come back in time?"

The smile on the Healer's face gave them hope. "She will survive, I promise you." The old man patted Jenna's forehead. "She has a strong will. It, and my aid, will keep her alive."

He looked at them all, happy that he could do something for them. "You can go to Imil, I will take care of her."

"She will be alright?"

They turned to the line of fire djinn that appeared around her, their eyes no longer sparkling with life like they used to.

With a finger Garet rubbed one of the djinn behind its ear, or at least what he suspected was the ear. "We bring Mia here and she'll be fine. Watch over her meanwhile, okay?"

"Of course! We'll always be by her side! We'll stick to her as flies to a rotting carcass!"

The other djinn stared at their kinsman.

"Your taste of metaphors is as stunning as ever, Reflux", one said sarcastically.

**XX**

With a bit of a struggle Isaac managed to get into his chest plate, which was hidden from sight after he put on his blue tunic again. It felt much different than two years ago, before he'd taken it off and placed it in this coffer inside his new room. To start with, it was very uncomfortable and made him feel rather stiff.

"It's because you've become fatter!" Flint commented from Isaac's bed.

Instantly Isaac looked down to estimate the size of his stomach. "What? No! I've grown, that's all!"

Flint rolled his eyes. "Of course, I forgot two years of laziness doesn't count. I bet your armour shrunk after the wash."

"I just need to get used to it again", Isaac said, trying hard not to show what a pain it was to move in it again.

He dug through the coffer again. Shortly he held a long, red scabbard in his hands. A bit carefully he unsheathed it, and in the light that shone in through the window, the sword flashed. He held it firmly with one hand, remembering its unusual light weight, and great power. The djinni watched the following show rather sceptically, when he swiftly swung the sword horizontally and followed it up with a vertical slash.

The sense of air itself being cut made Isaac remember the aerie feeling he felt every time he wielded the Sol Blade. It had not lost its edge even after these years; not once did he have to sharpen it. With an uneasy shrug he put the sword back into its scabbard and tied it to his back.

As he was about to leave through the door, Flint behind him shouted; "Hey! Haven't you forgotten something?"

Isaac stopped to think. He had the sword, he had his armour... Ah, of course.

He focused his mind, felt psynergy flow through him, and caught the item of interest as it flew from the bed to his hand. With ease he tied his yellow scarf around his neck and walked out to join the others.

**XX**

"Why did we have to go before breakfast?" Garet moaned, holding his rumbling stomach.

"Take an apple if it's so bad", Felix said irritated.

They walked along the dusty road leading to Goma Range at great speed, since Felix refused to slow down for any reason. He wanted to reach the mountains as soon as possible. When they crossed it, they would be halfway to Imil.

Isaac looked at the forest around them. Little had changed since his and Garet's very first trip here, although the road was a bit wider due to the traffic, which had increased in the recent months. It was unusually empty now though, especially since Vale, Imil and its Lighthouse had become quite popular among merchants and travellers. When they last visited Mia, must've been half a year ago or something, it had been crowded.

Mia... Isaac wondered how she'd been since they last saw her. She had been quite busy even now when the water from the Lighthouse pretty much had taken over her role as the town's healer. Instead she was occupied acting as, what she called, a "spiritual" healer, and keeping visitors from entering the Lighthouse on their own. They could damage it, which had nearly happened once when someone had thought that a piece of stone from it would bring luck. It was a miracle she'd managed to stop the mob armed with pickaxes from doing any serious harm.

The mountains of Goma Range appeared in the horizon. The sun shone above them, not a single cloud in the sky. Birds flew and sang around them. It was so peaceful it was hard to believe what happened last night. Yet, while Isaac and Garet admired the beautiful landscape, Felix was not sharing their mindset.

"Why did he do that?" Felix asked the others. "Destroying our Sanctum, hurting Jenna...Why?"

Garet scratched his spiky hair. "Well, he did something in Sol Sanctum. When he, uh, 'dug' out of the ground."

The fury inside Felix slowly emerged piece by piece. "Why would he do that? There's nothing there that isn't crushed or destroyed. I swear, when we reach Imil and Jenna is healed I will hunt that man down!"

"I and Isaac will come with you!" promised Garet, who was more than willing to get revenge for Jenna. "Right Isaac?"

Isaac only nodded since he was in too deep a thought to converse with them. The image of the false monster returned to his eyesight, and he wondered silently to himself what kind of psynergy could have created something like that. During their travels they had seen all kinds of wonders, horrors and psynergy, but nothing resembled what they had seen last night.

Fearing that the dangers he had waited for was arriving, Isaac for a moment questioned whether such powers had arrived with the return of Alchemy or-

He suddenly stopped. "Did you hear something?"

The others stopped and listened. "No, nothing."

Isaac looked around, but he didn't see anything. He could swear he had heard something, like snapping twigs, but now he could only hear the wind and the animals in the woods. Maybe it even was the animals who had made that sound.

"Must have imagined something..." Isaac told the others, feeling a bit dumb.

Ahead of them the entrance to Goma Cave came into view. "Lets go on", he said, and together they entered the familiar, damp cave.

**XX**

"It's quite boring now, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's chilly too."

"We should take some furs with us tomorrow."

The guard nodded his head slowly. His entire body was freezing, and the metal helm on his head didn't make things better.

In front of them Goma Range stretched across the horizon, a line of black shadows in the night.

The guard sighed as he rested against his spear. His back was aching something horribly, but he reminded himself it was all part of the job. It wasn't easy guarding this important crossroad with Imil to the north, Bilibin to the east and Kolima to the south. It was because of that lord McCoy stationed them here.

_"It's a very... honourable mission, so that's why I'm sending ye. My most stup- brave men. Ye must keep close guard at everyone who is passing ye so they don't.. do something suspicious. Ask who they are an' stuff like that... Just stay out of here. " _That's what lord McCoy had said to them, and the guard smiled as he remembered how happy everyone had been when the news of their assignment spread through town.

"Hey", his companion said and pointed at something out in the dark, "look over there."

"Where?" He couldn't see anything. Then he spotted three persons walking on the road from Goma Range. "Why are they out here so late?"

"It's suspicious, don't you think?", said the other.

They both nodded.

When the three came closer, the two guards lowered their spears. The travellers stopped in their tracks, watching the armed men in front of them.

Felix's expression was one of surprise and confusion. "What his this all about?" He asked.

A simple question, but what do you usually say when you have a pair of spears pointed at your chest by two guard at a simple crossroad?

"By the order of lord McCoy, we have to check everyone crossing this road, and either give them permission to go on or stop them if they're suspicious". The guard sucked his lips as he tried to remember what else they were supposed to say. "It is our duty to make Bilibin a safe place to live in and we will proudly perform our duty without hesitation."

"By guarding a _crossroad_?" Garet said. He couldn't find any logic in that.

"Yes. We have to ask to you a couple of questions and we recommend that you cooperate."

"That is the most stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Garet shouted in annoyance. "First of all, what keeps people from just going around you? Secondly, if they do answer you, how do you know that they're telling the truth?"

The guards looked at each other. "Well...Because we're asking them! We are the authority here, which should be respected by travellers who understand the importance of keeping the peace, law and order."

Garet were just about to tell them his opinion of their authority, when Felix pulled him back. "Can we answer the questions?" he said.

"Of course. Who are you?"

"I'm Felix. This is Isaac and this is Garet."

"Where do you come from?"

"We all come from Vale."

"Where are you going?"

"To Imil."

"What is your favourite colour?"

His fellow guardsman elbowed him.

"Uh, I mean, what will you do in Imil?"

"Is that so important?"

The guards took a deep breath.

"You won't answer?"

"That's really suspicious!"

"Alright, alright", Felix sighed. "We're going to meet a friend."

The guards raised their spears and satisfied nodded to each other.

"You may pass. Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring the safety and welfare of the town of Bilibin."

Felix thanked them, while Garet rolled his eyes and Isaac did his best not to grin, and with great speed they continued along the road to Imil.

The guards kept watching them for a while until they disappeared in the night.

"Strange people, I say. Did you see the hair on that one?"

The guard shook his head and sighed deeply. "Youngsters these days... Huh?"

Guard number two yawned and looked at his colleague. "What now?"

"There's another one coming from Goma Range."

He gazed in the direction to the mountains. "I'll be damned. Lots of people passing through here tonight."

"It sure is."

**XX**

Everyone has to rest, and our three heroes were no exception to this fact. Despite having set a new record by getting this far in such a short time, they were too tired to take another step forward. Taking shelter in the nearby woods in the vicinity of the next mountain cave they would have to walk through to get to Imil, they set up camp and miraculously managed to stay awake long enough to cook a combined meal of breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's not surprising that Garet's joy was overwhelming.

With a filled stomach Isaac rolled out his blanket where he had a perfect view of the night sky with its hundred, twinkling stars. It was a beautiful sight, yet, while he slowly fell asleep, his mind, almost on its own, wandered home to Vale.

She was, most certainly, not sleeping as peacefully as he did now.

Isaac sighed and forcefully closed his eyes. Soon she will be alright, soon she will be alright, he repeatedly told himself. Once they brought Mia with them home, Jenna would be alright, that's for certain. If there is one person you can always counts on, it's Mia.

Mia would help them...

Mia always help them...

Mia...


	4. Chapter 3: Reunions

_Mia..._

As Isaac slowly woke up from his deep slumber, he could still see the image of the teal-haired girl watching him with her typical soft smile, which contained as much warmth as the shining sun up in the blue sky. It sure had been a while since he last had seen her, he remembered once again. He wished this new visit would have been under happier circumstances, though, not the tragic business that forced them to only come here to get her help...

He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned; he was only barely managing to stay awake. Then he looked up again. Heh, that image of Mia sure lasted for a while. It was almost as if she was really standing there, looking down at him-

"Good morning, Isaac" the image said with a very Mia-like voice.

That was strange. Usually his thoughts didn't talk to him, neither did they sound so real... The drowsy gears that were Isaac's brain sadly spun into action. Slowly he stretched out a hand, grabbed some of the teal hair, and pulled.

"_Mia_!?" he shouted as he leapt up to his feet, her scream the key to make his mind realize it was the real one and not some illusion caused by a dream. "It's really you!?"

With a tense smile, trying to laugh a little over his surprising reaction, Mia nodded. "Long time no see, Isaac, but I don't think it has been so long you wouldn't recognize me."

From her left shoulder came a loud grunt. "Oh c'mon, it's _Isaac!_ I say, if it weren't for Flint and the others he would forget where the door out of his room is!"

Still smiling Mia gently patted the mercury djinni on its little head. "Now now, Spritz, don't say that. There is no reason to be rude when our friends are visiting, is it?"

Spritz the djinni looked into the serene ocean that was Mia's eyes, then, while embarrassingly looking down on the ground, whispered a apologize before it disappeared.

"They really like to tease people, don't they?" She said. "Oh, that reminds me, what are you three doing-"

Before she got to finish she was abruptly interrupted by the huge hug Isaac gave her.

"You have no idea how glad we are to see you!" He told her while holding her. He couldn't believe they where so lucky to find her here. Or rather, she found them, but details didn't matter right now.

A loud groan a few metres away announced that Garet was awake. "Isaac, some of us are trying to sleep here..." His eyes adjusted to the bright daylight and slowly the blurry, blue and white shape next to his friend took on a more recognizable form.

"What is an angel doing next to you?" he yawned.

Or maybe not.

"Good morning to you too, Garet", Mia chuckled.

Any remaining dizziness instantly disappeared from his mind, and rushing up at great speed he grabbed her hands. "Mia! You've got to come with us now!" Garet told the now startled water adept.

"A-alright..." she said, confused over the unusual choice of words to greet her with. "Uhm, is anything the matt-"

While it took a few seconds for Isaac and Garet to recognize her, as soon as Felix listened to the annoying voices disturbing his sleep, he rushed up as well and nearly shoved Garet away from her.

"Mia!" He said while grabbing her shoulders. "You have to come with us to Vale, now!"

Shaking her free from him, Mia took a few steps backwards so she could watch the trio. She fixed her robe then and looked them all seriously in the eyes while holding her hands on her hip. "Does anyone mind telling me what in the world is going on?"

"Jenna is sick!"

Felix words caused Mia's eye to widen. "What? Oh, poor Jenna... What is wrong with her?"

"We don't know! Suffice to say, our Healer can't cure it, so you must help us! We'll explain on the road!"

He tried to grab Mia's hand again but she instantly avoided him.

"Wait a moment", she said. "I- I need to bring my medicine from Imil first."

"Why?" Felix began to sound annoyed. "We don't have time for that! Beside, don't you only need that water from the Lighthouse?"

Mia's eyes were drawn downwards to a bottle of crystal-clear water hanging from her waist, but they were soon back to watch Felix.

"Felix, listen. If your Healer couldn't cure it, it must be something very serious, and I want to be as prepared as possible for whatever Jenna is suffering from", Mia explained very calmly.

She looked at the road leading to Imil. "It's not that far, and the road is easy to travel on this time of year." She turned back to them. "Please, I know what I'm doing."

Both Isaac and Garet nodded. If Mia said she'd need her equipment, they were not to object. After their travels together they had learned to trust her instincts in these matters.

After seeing how everyone agreed to the idea, Felix sighed and nodded in approval as well.

-

The landscape around them was flowering in the wonderful spring weather; a sharp contrast to the desolated land of snow they were used to see it like. Fields of flowers in all colours covered the earth, softly waving in the gentle wind, and high above soft, fluffy clouds floated across the sky. The air was warm, everything felt tranquil and peaceful, far superior to the springs they experienced home in Vale.

Although this was not a performance that lasted for long. Earlier Mia had told them of Imil's short spring and summer times; a few months of growth and sunshine, until the icy grip of winter returned. Because of this, the people of Imil had learned to greatly appreciate their short time of warmth, treasuring its every moment.

As they walked pass this colourful landscape Isaac explained everything to Mia about what had happened in Vale, and why Jenna was ill. Or at least, he tried to, as it was difficult to talk about something so surreal, so out of place, and which didn't make any sense at all.

"So, he just disappeared? And didn't come back?" asked Mia, who barely could believe what she'd heard. Peaceful Vale attacked all of a sudden, without any reason, by someone who afterward simply vanishes?

"As if he'd never been there..." Isaac answered.

"And you'd never seen this man before?"

"Never", Garet said.

Mia shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to", Felix growled. "You'll never understand the mind of a madman.."

Feeling how the atmosphere grew gloomy Isaac tried to come up with something to say and managed by asking Mia the question, which had been picking on his mind ever since he woke up and saw her:

"Why were you out all the way here, anyway?"

Mia looked up. "Oh, me? I was gathering herbs. I always get a lot of them this season, and as I walked through the woods I found you three sleeping on the ground."

She smiled. "What a lucky coincidence, isn't it?"

"It sure was. I didn't know you still needed herbs, now when Mercury Lighthouse is lit and provides Hermes Water."

Mia had barely changed at all during these two years. She was slightly taller, her hair slightly longer, and it still had its characteristic, teal blue colour. She was still just as caring, just as helpful, and loved to smile, encouraging others. He couldn't remember her being really sad or depressed, apart from their encounter with Alex.

Because Isaac was so used to her being in high spirits, he never noticed how Mia, for a short instant, lost the shimmer in her eyes, and how the smile on her face became hollow.

When she looked at Isaac again, there was no trace left of it.

"Yeah... I guess I'm just used to do it every year", she smiled, and this time it was as honest as it always was.

-

As they crossed the last hill the town of Imil came into view; now a town bathing in sunlight rather than covered in snow. The river running through the centre of Imil was free from its ice prison and flowed in all its might, with its impressive waterfall raging nearby.

Mia turned to them when they reached the entrance, where, they noticed, a sign was stuck in the ground next to it. It showed a pickaxe with a huge red cross painted across it.

"I'll be going and get what I need, and I also need to tell Megan and Justin I'm leaving", Mia told them. "You can wait here, I'll be fast."

With that she left them, hurrying along the street toward the inn, where she remembered her apprentices were supposed to help the innkeeper with his daily chores.

As she entered the inn, she saw the innkeeper resting behind his counter, although the sound of the doorbell automatically woke him up from his slumber.

"What can I do for you today? Oh, hello Mia. Looking for the youths, are you?"

Mia nodded. "Yes, I need to talk to them." She looked around the rather empty inn. "They aren't here?"

The innkeeper stretched his tired arms and prepared to return to the land of dreams. "They left early today. Said they would help the lady over at the shop."

Mia thanked him and hurried out, her heart beating faster with the realization that this might take a while after all. Unfortunately she was right, since when she reached the shop was told that the two had already left. Apparently, they were heading back to the Sanctum.

At least these news made her glad; that way she could pick up her medicine and talk with Megan and Justin at the same time. Provided, of course, they still hadn't left the Sanctum.

Praying this was the fact she hurried across the bridge and onwards to the Sanctum, running past the small garden with herbs she had carefully planted a few weeks ago and tenderly taken care of ever since. She managed to get a quick glance at them, and was happy to see small, healthy, green sprouts rising from the earth. They might be needed later, or rather, only needed for Jenna. Maybe she only should bring some of the Hermes Water after all...

Mia shook the thought out of her mind and after rather forcefully opening the door she headed inside the Sanctum.

She looked around the large room quickly. The benches were empty, and so were the altar. No sign of neither Megan nor Justin.

With a sigh Mia rubbed her aching forehead. This was not going well. Where in the world could those two be in such a small to-

Mia's eyes now noticed the person who knelt next to the alter, seemingly examining it. She had never seen this one before, although she was used to unknown travellers visiting Imil by now.

She politely coughed to announce her presence. "Excuse me, can I help you?"

The man by the altar was startled for a second, but calmly rose to his full length to see who had spoken to him.

"Actually", the man's amber eyes fixed on Mia, "yes, you can."

As she was about to ask what he meant, the man's body sparkled with psynergy and a dark, shimmering globe appeared in his hand. Taken by surprise, Mia had no chance to act as he hurled the globe at her.

-

A chilly breeze sent a shiver down Garet's spine. "What's taking her so long?" he asked the others.

"Just give her some more time", Isaac answered, although he too felt they ought to have left already.

Felix shrugged. They had been waiting here for some time now and he could feel how his patience was struggling to remain in control. They had caught a glimpse of her hurrying towards the Sanctum, but that had been after a while. What in the world was she doing?

Annoyed Garet scratched his spiky hair. He wanted to head back home, to Jenna, not standing here doing nothing. It was making him crazy.

Well, only one thing to do then.

"I'll go and help her", he said and began to walk along the street leading to the Sanctum.

"I think that would only make her more stressed", Isaac tried to say, but Garet had already set his mind and walked away from them.

Isaac shook his head and returned to watch the river flow by, and the town in general, while the sun kept shining above them. At least he, according to Flint, would get a "nice tan", whatever that meant...

A tired groan drew his attention to Felix, who, he now realized, looked more and more tired and worn-out for every minute. He was resting against a fence, although it seemed more as if that fence was all that kept him standing. His eyes were looking in the distant. Isaac knew that he wasn't admiring the landscape.

Noticing he was being noticed, Felix distant gaze disappeared and he turned to look at Isaac, while letting out another sigh.

"I must seem like a total wreck, don't I?"

Isaac didn't know what to answer to that. Partially he agreed, but he felt that was not something you were supposed to say out loud. Should he claim the opposite? That would be rather odd, since Felix did have gone through a rough time, and still was.

Thankfully he was saved when Felix kept on talking, oblivious to whether Isaac listened to him or not.

"When I was in Prox, I knew my parents would be alright if I behaved, and I knew that Jenna was safe in Vale, out of harm's way. I could keep my mind clear, knowing that. Even after all that happened in Sol Sanctum, I could ensure her safety.

But now, there's nothing I can do to help her! It stings in my mind every second!"

"Understandable", Isaac said, remembering how he himself had felt when Saturos and Menardi kidnapped Kraden and Jenna. "But have faith in Mia. She, of all people, can help us."

Felix let out a dry laugh. "I'll probably need to be reminded of it all the way back home."

When he saw how the look from Isaac grew slightly colder, he quickly added. "I know she can cure Jenna, but I can't stop worrying. At least not until Jenna is well again."

"Understandable", Isaac said again, showing his remarkable skill at vocabulary.

Maybe circumstance decided now was a perfect time to interrupt the awkward silence that followed, as Mia's terrified cry and the subsequent sound of falling rocks pierced through the air.

-

Garet strolled down the street and crossed the bridge to the Sanctum. Everything looked the same since the last time they visited, except for that nearby garden. He glanced at it as he passed by, sighing at the sight of all the small weeds growing there.

Well, he wasn't here to complain about someone's green fingers. He walked up to the Sanctum and with a firm grip he opened the door wide.

"-es, you can."

Garet instantly recognized that voice and his eyes quickly found its source, standing in front of Mia at the other end of the room. The man's view shifted from Mia to Garet the moment the door opened, and showing no sign of hesitation his body glowed in psynergy and from his hand he hurled a eerie, shadowy globe right at Mia.

"Mia, watch out!" Garet yelled.

In one rapid movement he dashed forward to grab her, causing her to cry out in shock, and threw them both backwards so they landed outside the Sanctum. The globe flew through the empty air where Mia had been and struck the doorway. Where Garet expected some sort of explosion, there was instead a crumbling sound as the doorway, and a chunk of the wall that held it up, collapsed. The wooden door and the stones had cracked to pieces.

The unexpected dust that flew up caused them both to cough violently, yet Garet managed to just in time see a large silhouette soar towards them. Still holding on to Mia he rolled out of the way of the altar, that bounced and crashed a few metres from them.

Mia stared, eyes wide open, at the destruction in front of her. It had only taken a few seconds, and their ancient Sanctum was now unrecognisable. Forcing her way free from Garet's grip she crawled up to her feet.

"Garet!" she yelled, "What's going on!?"

"It's him!" he said through a couple of coughs.

Mia immediately knew what Garet meant by it; the same thing that had happened in Vale, was now happening in her hometown.

Another section of the Sanctum's walls collapsed and the man jumped though it, landing on his feet close to the river. He paid no attention to neither Mia nor Garet, just stared at his closed fist.

"Mia!!"

The yell came from Isaac and Felix as they crossed the bridge, stopping when they saw who was standing between them and Mia and Garet.

A dark shade fell across Felix's eyes. "You," he hissed, his voice a ticking bomb of fury.

The man now looked to the sides, seeing how he was surrounded. With a slight hint of a grin he grabbed one of his scabbards and pulled out a long, shiny sabre.

He never got time to use it though. With a rage slowly growing stronger and stronger, Mia focused her eyes on the ground beneath the man, and concentrated. The tingling sensation of psynergy flowed through her veins as her body glowed. She could feel how the air rippled around her, sending her long hair into a teal coloured cascade.

The man tried to rush them, only to almost trip when his feet didn't follow the rest of his body. Looking down, he saw how layers of ice rose from the ground and wrap itself around his legs.

Taking this opportunity, not caring if it would work this time or not, Garet launched several balls of fire from his palms, while Isaac and Felix both drew their swords and dashed forward.

While this should give her the feeling of winning, Mia suddenly felt uneasy. The man was simply too calm for his awkward situation, as if he had everything in control despite being frozen to the ground, unable to move. As if he had read her thoughts, the man looked at her and gave her a triumphant grin that sent chilling shivers down her spine, then his body glowed again.

He took a step forward, with ease breaking through the ice that all of a sudden offered no resistance whatsoever. He glowed once more, and shocked Mia once more, when he, without even needing to build up speed, leapt across the wide river and elegantly landed on the other side.

To Isaac and Felix, this meant that Garet's giant fireballs now were heading towards them. They dived and pressed themselves to the muddy ground, feeling the heat as the fireballs passed by above, and the sticky coldness of the mud wetting their clothes.

With a feeling of déjá vu Isaac stumbled up on his feet, almost expecting to see Jenna lying lifeless in front of him. Thankfully, all that was there were the shocked faces of Mia and Garet.

"Are you all right?" Mia concernedly shouted.

With help from Isaac Felix got up on his feet as well, struggling to remain his calm . "Of course we are!" he snapped and pulled Isaac along as they ran towards the bridge. "After him! I won't let him get away this time!"

When they crossed the bridge the man was already at the gates. He had quite the lead, might be able to get away from them eventually, unless...

Mia focused once more.

-

The man found himself watching the clouds up in the sky when he slipped on a sheet of ice, that out of nowhere appeared under his feet. Not so elegantly he fell on the ground with a rough, heavy slam from his armour.

With a painful growl he rolled to the side to see his pursuers had more or less caught up with him. Slowly trying to rise he glowed, and from his feet a familiar trail of black smoke emerged, engulfing him within seconds. Just like before, when the smoke subsided, he was gone.

"Oh no, not this time!" Garet screamed, and out of pure anger he shot out a large beam of searing heat to where the man had been.

When the beam came closer it faded away with a fizzing sound, and almost at the same time, they suddenly saw the man again, standing at the same spot with his arms crossed before his face, which was twisted in a furious scowl.

Finally feeling as if they had the upper hand, Isaac held on tightly to his sword and prepared to charge. This time they got him, he was sure of it.

As the four youngsters came closer the man desperately looked around the town, as if he tried to see anything that could help him. Having spotted something he raised his left hand and glowed once more.

"Not a step further!" He barked, his amber eyes sneering at them.

As if they would listen to the threats of a desperate man.

"Very well", he said, and slowly closed his fist.

A fracturing sound echoed through Imil when the house closest to them began to collapse like a house of cards. The roof fell as if there was nothing to support it, the wooden walls cracked and splintered, and from inside they could hear the horrified screams from its elderly residents.

"No!" Mia panicked, and was about to rush in an attempt to save them, when the house stopped falling apart. It was still shattered, but hung in the air as if time had stopped.

Slowly, their heads turned from the building, to the maliciously grinning man, whose body brightly glowed from psynergy.

"Impossible..." Isaac mumbled, eyes wide in shock.

"One move," the man said, "and I'm not sure I can keep my concentration. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?"

Closing his fist slightly more, the house loudly crumbled down a bit more, causing the elders screams and the villagers, who slowly gathered in a crowd nearby, to scream even more.

Mia's eyes narrowed. "You- How dare you!? There are old people inside!" She yelled.

The man grinned even more. "I know. That is what we call a 'hostage'. Now, go back, all of you!"

Garet rolled his eyes. "Oh sure! As if we would do that when you can kill them in an instant!"

The man glowed stronger and opened his fist. The collapsing house slowly rose, its roof, walls and broken windows returning to normal without any signs of damage.

Isaac stared in astonishment at this unnatural act. Nothing he had seen or heard could explain this; how an entire building could be treated as some sort of a marionette. The villagers behind him gasped, but it ended abruptly when the man closed his fist again and the house returned to its half-collapsed state.

"I might choose not to", the man smiled at them, clearly confident in his advantage. "Now, would you mind taking some steps back?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, the four of them did as they were told. What else could they do? A lot of things actually, but everything included the potential deaths of the old couple inside.

"I'm going to leave, and I won't have you pests following me, understood?" the man continued, walking backwards as he spoke. "If you do, I will turn that house to a pile of rubble, along with, oh, I don't know, the whole town perhaps?"

Isaac angrily closed his fists, burrowing his fingernails in his palms so much it hurt .

"Alright", he said, and hated himself for doing it, "but if we do, you are not to harm anyone in this village."

"Isaac!" Felix yelled. "You can't say that! You're going to let him get away again! What about Jenna!?"

Isaac let out maybe the deepest sigh he'd ever had in his life. "I don't want anyone to die."

Felix grabbed Isaac by his scarf. "So you're going to let him make fools of us!?"

"What else can we do!?" Isaac told him furiously.

The man nodded. "Exactly, there is _nothing_ else for you to do than do as I tell you. But don't worry. I'm an honourable man, I'll keep my word."

As he continued his walk backwards he opened his fist again, rebuilding the house as if to show his sincerity.

From now on things happened rather quickly. Isaac wasn't sure from where, but a shadow unexpectedly appeared next to the man, put a large hand on his shoulder and threw him out of the gate as if he was a rag doll. The man violently bounced on the ground a few times, before acrobatically turn in the air and land on his knee.

The first thing Isaac did was to look at the house. It still stood, as if nothing had happened to it. Villagers flocked inside to help the elderly couple out, in case it somehow would collapse after all.

This gave him enough time to see their mysterious saviour. The newcomer was a rather short man, very surprisingly considering his rather muscular body, clearly visible through his shabby clothing. He stood with his arms crossed across his chest, his back turned against Isaac and the others. They didn't get a good view of his face, but what they had seen was stern, almost elderly features, enhanced by his thin, greyish hair.

He walked very calmly towards the armoured man, who for some reason actually had a look of frustration and hatred on his face, no longer caring of the four brats that had bothered him just a second ago.

"Well, well, well, had your fun time, Cervic?" the aged man said, with the voice of someone who was talking with a kid.

Their until now unknown foe rose to his full length, holding his right hand tightly closed as he pulled out the sword again with his left. He didn't say a word.

The other one continued on talking while slowly tapping his forehead. "I almost couldn't believe it at first, but I decided to tag along and just see if it was true. Believe me when I say that I truly am _g-l-a-d_ that it turned out to be so. You want to know why?"

He smacked his fists together. "That means I finally get to beat the crap out of you!"

As soon as he said those words, the man now known as Cervic glowed stronger than ever before. Reacting on pure instinct Isaac knew he had to do something. Whoever that old man was, and whatever reasons he had to know that man, he was going up against an armed adept of sorts without any sort of weapon himself. Closing his eyes, Isaac focused with all his might. There was an opening and he was going to use it.

Feeling the burst of psynergy flow through his veins, he summoned all the power he could on the ground beneath Cervic.

-

The first thing Cervic noticed, was the sudden, crumbling noise. Around him, the earth began to shatter and tremble, Venus psynergy bursting from the fractures. He screamed as it erupted in a cascade of psynergy, sending wave after wave of rock and earth upwards, shredding him as the psynergy rose him off the ground.

Isaac smiled at his success attack, but that smile was swiftly siphoned. A sharp, painful sting flashed through his entire body. The psynergy he channelled grew even stronger, more than he had planned. It flowed through him faster and faster, gushing out from his body in irregular, orange bursts that caused his friends to frightened jump away from him. Through the veil that blurred his vision, he could see his friends' terrified faces. He heard one of them scream his name, and one tried to grab his shoulder, only to quickly remove the hand with a painful cry.

The ground beneath the tormented Cervic shattered even more, growing so wide so quickly it even reached his acquaintance, who had no time to get away from the incoming danger. He tried though by jumping to the side, but was caught up in the storm of rock and psynergy that rose from the earth. With an ear-deafening blast, the ground erupted and the shockwave sent Cervic soaring away from Imil, while the old man's scream echoed as he was thrown straight into the waterfall behind them.

Isaac's mind was numb. He didn't know what was going on anymore. His arms trembled out of control, spitting out psynergy. He tried to stop whatever he was doing, but he was too tired. He'd pay a fortune for a bed to sleep in... He so wanted to sleep...

"Isaac! Stop this!"

Isaac opened his eyes. A bluish image came into view through the fog, reminding him of someone. He slowly stretched out a hand, trying to grab some of that blue stuff to see what it was.

The image forcefully slapped away his hand.

Isaac closed and opened his eyes anew. He looked at his arms; they were no longer shaking. He tried to move his fingers, and they followed. Looking up again, he saw the upset face of Mia, who examined him with her worried eyes.

Her chest heaved as she breathed heavily. "Are you all right now, Isaac?" she asked him.

He blinked a few times, then nodded uncertainly. "What... what happened?"

Garet grimaced in pain as he comforted his right hand, which palm was covered in minor burns. "You tell us! You were glowing like a lighthouse and nearly ripped the landscape apart!"

Isaac's gaze shifted from the concerned looks from his friend, to the field outside of Imil. His eyes widened when he saw the destruction. In an area stretching itself along the river, to the town gate and onward quite far into the wilderness, the earth had, shortly speaking, been turned upside down. There were no trace of any grass or flowers, only brown mud and dirt and large pieces of rock from deep beneath the ground. Even a few trees had been pulled up, and now laid here and there like skeletons, scorched of any leaves.

Did he cause all this?

Another thought fought its way into Isaac's head, and he quickly turned to his friends, battle-readiness flowing through him again.

"Where is he?" he asked the others.

The concern for their friend had taken all their attention, and now, when reminded, they instantly turned around, trying to spot the man named Cervic. No matter how hard they tried, he was nowhere to be seen.

The sound of splashing water and angry spitting and coughing was heard behind them. The old man crawled up from the river, water dripping off him like a waterfall. While you'd think the cold water ought to cool him down, his face was instead boiling with furious rage. He rushed past them, forcefully pushing away those that was in the way and stopped at the gate, or at least what was left of it. There he turned his head left to right several times, predatorily scanning the horizon while his breathing grew quicker and wild.

When he came to the same conclusion as they he turned to face Isaac and the others. His eyes too were red from the anger he felt, but what really surprised them was that, despite having been caught in that vicious blast, his body was merely marked by some minor burns and scratches.

"You!!" he bellowed and spat out some more water. "You, you, you-"

He let out a primal, furious roar.

"I had him right where I wanted him and then you morons show up and ruin everything! Of all the people I follow I get the three most incompetent, brainless bastards I've ever seen! You've any idea how much trouble you've caused me!?"

They were a bit shaken by the man's threatening voice.

"Easy, old man", Felix said, "we saved your life back there. You were going up against a dangerous man unarmed."

This fact apparently made things worse, as when the man heard it he clenched his teeth and a potential outburst might have the same strength as that of an erupting volcano.

"_You... saved... me_?" he hissed between his breaths. He held out his hand, shaking from anger, then, after a few, tense seconds, pulled it back.

"Listen up, punks!" he snarled at them. "If I wasn't in such a hurry..."

He closed his eyes and took another long, deep breath. "If I _-ever- _see your ugly faces again-"

He smashed his fists together. "-I swear you won't live to regret it."

With this he spitted on the ground in front of the shocked youths, then turned and rushed away from Imil in a speed they'd never expected from such a short man. Before he disappeared across the horizon, they could hear his last scream as the wind carried it:

"And why aren't there any damn horses around here!?"

-

**Author's worhtless comments:** Seriously, there are, as far as I remember, only two horses in all of Weyard. Anyway, having an unnamed character for too long is not a good idea. Having TWO is even worse. Thank God I finally got to name at least one.

So, if you're reading this I just wanna say thanks. I really appreciate it, whether you like it or not. Now I'm gonna go to bed before I fall asleep on my keyboard...


	5. Chapter 4: It's a long way to Vale

**Author's note:** If anyone's been waiting for a next chapter, you might have noticed it's taken some time. I've been working a lot this summer and also had to fix important stuff in preparations for my university studies (such as somewhere to live), so that's my excuse.

And what is the results after all this time? Well, I've decided to add quotes as I did in the original, but for some strange reason didn't do for this remake. The rest... well, I guess I'm having too much fun writing dialogues.

--

_"May your journey home be safe and uneventful"_

_- The Mayor of Prox_

**XX**

With hectic hands Mia dug through the muddy remains of her garden, looking for any plants that'd survived and was mature enough to be of use. A lot were still too young, and many more ruined when the altar, which broken pieces now lay scattered in the middle of this mess, landed right on the garden.

Behind her, Garet silently watched Mia's back as she worked hard. He'd like to help, but he knew he would be rather useless when he couldn't see differences between weed and what he now realized was Mia's herbs. Well, at least he could try with some friendly encouragement.

"Any luck?"

"No."

That didn't work as expected. Well, at least he had shown he was there for her... right?

Mia picked up a handful of herbs and quickly examined them. A sigh later she threw them all away. "It's no use. They aren't meant to be gathered this early", she told Garet.

Garet looked at the brown and green pile of useless roots and herbs next to her.

"You really wanted to bring some with you, didn't you?" he said.

"Yes", Mia nodded. "I didn't want to take any risks with Jenna but... It's only been a waste of time.."

Garet shrugged when he heard the disappointment in her voice. "Don't worry. You're a great healer, you don't need any extra help."

A weak smile managed to spread across her face. "Thanks. I appreciate you said that, Garet."

"Besides", he continued, "you still have Hermes' Water with you. It's not like you need anything else."

Mia stiffened, but when she rose and turned to speak to him, she looked as normal as ever.

"Yes", she said. "Yes, you're right. Let's go back to Isaac and Felix."

As she was about to go past Garet, she remembered something and stopped.

"Oh, and thank you for saving me back then," she told him gratefully.

Garet looked at her a bit dumbfounded. "What?... Oh!"

He grinned jokingly. " It was nothing. You saved me from falling down a lighthouse, remember? Can't be in your debt forever, can I?"

Mia laughed a little and gave him a friendly nudge on the waist. "Then I guess we're even now!"

As they both passed the Sanctum they didn't even flinch when another part of the broken wall no longer could uphold the weight of the roof and crumbled, burrowing Mia's supplies of herbs and medicine underneath an even larger pile of stone.

**XX**

At what remained of the town gate; some broken timber and, miraculously, a certain sign of a mining tool, stood Isaac and gazed at the scarred landscape in front of him, trying hard to figure out just what had happened to him a few moments ago. He'd never lost control of his psynergy like that before. In fact, he'd never lost control of it at all or even seen or heard of anything like that. The painful sensation of power that he'd felt... His head hurt just by remembering it.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know," Isaac honestly answered Felix.

"To tell you the truth, you scared us, Isaac," Felix continued.

"And us!"

Felix sighed. "And the djinn too. Have you been feeling ill lately? Or been having problems with your psynergy? Or-"

"I don't know!" shouted Isaac angrily. "This has never happened to me before!"

Felix calmly kept his posture. "Why I am asking is because I don't want that to happen again. Will it, Isaac? Because do you know how lucky we were the village wasn't hit!?"

As if to back up his words, Felix pointed on the gate, where the earth abruptly returned to normal.

The seriousness in all this made Isaac take a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"I... No, I don't think so. I must have lost my concentration, or something like that..." He could easily see that Felix wasn't content with that answer, so he quickly added "I'll be careful."

Any further dwelling on this matter was prevented when Garet's shout got their attention. He and Mia was almost at the gate when a pair of running youths caught up with them.

"Mia! Mia!" they both cried out to her.

"Megan? Justin?" Mia said, "didn't I tell you to look after the villagers?"

"They are fine, just a bit shaken," the girl told her.

"We wanted to give you this", the boy said and held forth a bottle of crystal clear water.

As Mia took it, the girl continued: "You might be gone for a while again, so it's good if you have some extra with you."

Mia put the bottle in a bag fastened to her waist, then knelt down and hugged them both softly. She had been so worried for these two, the closest ones she had to call apprentices, and had been sick with concern until she found out they'd been at the Lighthouse during all the danger. If they had been in the Sanctum... She'd thanked whatever force in this world that it hadn't been so.

"Thanks, both of you," she said to them and stroke their hair. "You take care of everything again while I'm gone, alright?"

"Of course! We've done it before, we can do it again!" the children boasted, then turned to the three boys behind her. "And you take care of Mia, understand?"

"Don't worry, we will," Isaac chuckled.

"And get that guy who destroyed our Sanctum?"

"When my sister is cured, we will hunt him down until he pays for all this." Felix growled, and you could hear in his voice that he really meant it.

With one last farewell, and one last look at the brightly glowing Lighthouse, events repeated themselves as Mia once more left her hometown.

**XX**

A chilly wind sneaked inside both guards armour.

"We forgot the furs."

"I'm freezing so much I can't feel my toes… Don't the wind have something better to do?"

"You know, I heard that if you're frozen enough, you will start feeling warm all of a sudden."

The other guard laughed. "That's impossible. If that was true, people would be sleeping outside in the snow instead of sitting around a fire, or something.."

"Point."

"I'm not done; if that would be the case, wouldn't you start freezing when you're sweating, then?"

"Point again."

"And that's why I'm the brain of us two, because you believe in everything people tell you."

The guard shook his head and sighed, then reached for a bottle inside his pockets. He took a gulp and shivered as the liquid worked its magic through his body.

"Want some?" he said and held forth the bottle to his companion.

"Hot water? Hah! That stuff will kill you one day… Hey, on with the 'I'm in charge' face, more people passing through."

Down the road from Imil came a group of ragged-looking youngsters, obviously up to no good. When they reached the crossroad the guards raised their spears and loudly yelled "Halt! By the order of lord McCoy, we have to check everyone crossing this-"

The red haired one with the really suspicious hair rubbed his forehead and moaned. "You're still here? It's just us, let us through."

The guards gasped in chorus over such rudeness they'd never experienced before.

"Such rudeness!"

"I've never experienced it before!"

The blue-haired girl looked at her companions with a confused look on her face. "What's this all about?"

The guards rolled their eyes and a bit louder repeated "By the order of lord-"

"Don't get them started, Mia", the guy in the pony-tail said, then turned to the guards. "Look, it's us again. We came through here yesterday and are just on our way home."

One guard sneered at him. "I don't recall you."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Hold your fire, mister," one guard interrupted. "We are just gonna ask you some questions to ensure the safety-"

"I'm Felix, this is Isaac, Garet and Mia. We're going from Imil back to Vale because we're going home… Good enough?"

The guards' eyes grew wide. They'd never witnessed such cooperation before, a great improvement compared to that black-haired douche from earlier.

"Impressive," one guard said, "I've never witnessed such cooperation before."

"A great improvement compared to that black-haired douche from earlier," the other said.

The quartet was about to pass them, when they all of a sudden stopped.

"Who from earlier?" the guy in a yellow scarf asked.

The guards snorted. "Some guy in fancy armour thinking he could stay above the law. I tell you, if we had had time I would've taken his two swords and shoved them up-"

The guard never got time to finish his verbal assault when Mr. Pony-tail grabbed his breastplate and held him just an inch from his face. "Where did he go?"

The guard, stunned by the darkness in the youngsters eyes and voice, quickly pointed eastwards. "East, he headed east," the guard croaked, "towards Kolima."

His assailant let him go and turned to his friends, who looked at each other for a few seconds as if they were pondering about something.

"We have to go back first," Mr. Yellow Scarf said at last, and the others silently nodded in agreement.

With that said, the group continued on towards Goma Range, leaving the two guards alone in the night.

"Such rudeness!"

"I say, if I hadn't been taken by surprise I would've cut off that pony-tail of his and shoved it down-"

The other guard interrupted him by pointing at the dark horizon beyond the mountain range.

"You think we ought to have warned them of the incoming storm?"

**XX  
**

The sky thundered as lightning struck from the black clouds, strong enough to for a short time lighten the darkness that surrounded the world outside the western end of the Goma cave, where our heroes gazed out at the trees struggling in the merciless, howling wind and the whipping rain striking the ground.

"You think the guards ought to have warned us of a incoming storm…" Garet muttered as he leaned against the wall.

Isaac watched the devastation outside one last time before he made his decision. "We'll have to wait here until it has calmed down, I'm afraid.." he told the others. He was almost expecting a fierce protest from Felix, but he stayed quiet and sat down on a nearby rock.

They all followed his example, and soon they all realized how tired they were. Fatigue were beginning to take its toll on them after everything that had happened these last few days, where they by far hadn't gotten enough rest. Even though they all wanted to get to Vale as soon as possible, their bodies welcomed this chance to a break just as much as their stomachs welcomed Dora's homemade cookies she had given them before they left.

"Just like in the old days, isn't it?" Mia said with a smile.

These words caused memories from the past to resurface from the depths of the three guys' minds.

"Good times," Isaac said.

"Yup," Garet said as he took one more cookie and ate it in one bite, "constant dangers, terrible weather, always in a hurry, no rest and not enough food."

"And…" Mia's voice grew distant, "we are after someone again…"

The good mood died just as quickly as it had grown.

"What do you think it is this time?" Felix asked them.

"Nouthmg biag," Garet said and with a bit of an effort swallowed the cookie. "Some madman pillaging villages' Sanctums and thinks he can get away with it…" In one rare moment of unusual activity, the gears in Garet's mind turned. "Hey… why did he only destroy the Sanctums? That's a bit stupid, isn't it?"

Felix nodded. "I've been thinking about it, too." He massaged his tired eyes. "But it's all clouded by that strange psynergy he used…"

They all remembered what that man had done with the house. No matter how hard they thought about it, nothing they knew could explain it.

"Things are changing since we released Alchemy, aren't they?" Mia said quietly, barely loud enough for them to hear.

Isaac let out a deep sigh. Was that the answer? That it was a result of Alchemy's return? He had no idea. There was so much to know about psynergy, and compared to that he barely knew anything. Isaac let out another, deeper sigh. Kraden should've been here, he of all people would be able to piece together what was going on, explain everything to them.

Or maybe that was just what he wanted to believe…

**XX**

From outside, two human-looking shapes rushed inside to the shelter offered by the cave, where they began to shrug off water from their soaked clothes, oblivious to the people already inside.

"I tell you, that storm sure came out of nowhere!"

Isaac and the others watched how the taller of the two, a middle-aged man dressed in leather clothing and a thick, brown cape, addressed his companion.

"How dare he leave us without a word!? I didn't bring him all the way here just so he could run off and abandon us! Allegiance? Hah! Wherever he is now I hope he catch a cold!"

The mans companion didn't seem to listen too much to what was being said to him… Although that was rather hard to tell considering his choice of clothing. A long, blue cloak covered his entire head and face and stretched down across his shoulders, down the arms and chest, all the way down to his feet. On them, and his hands, he wore a pair of thick boots respectively gloves.

One of these glove-concealed hands rose, poked his companion's shoulder, then turned to point at Isaac and the others.

The taller man spun around and with a look of surprise in his face watched those who were watching them.

"Well, well, looks like we aren't alone in our misery!" the man said joyfully and gave them a bright smile. "Caught in this hellish storm too, I assume?"

Isaac nodded. "Yes… although we came from the opposite direction, so we have to wait until it subsides."

The man clapped his hands together dramatically. "Ah, the pity… Well, if it's no trouble for you, would you mind if we accompany you here while we rest?"

"Of course you can," Mia politely answered.

The man more or less fell down to a sitting position close to Garet, who jerked away in surprise. "Capital! I am in desperate need of new, interesting company after spending an eternity with this sulky fellow!"

The cloaked man quietly sat down next to him, uttering nothing close to a greeting.

"So… what were you doing out there?" Isaac asked the two newcomers.

"Seeking shelter from a storm, of course!" The man chuckled. "No, really, we are on a business trip… or at least we were until our coach decided to run off with all our wares! I'm ruined, I tell you, ruined!"

The trader, his face red from anger, took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "But never mind fools like us, what are such young people like you doing out here?"

Isaac looked at the others, but he couldn't see any signs of objection from them.

"We're on our way home," he told the traders. It was a good answer, he thought. Neither a lie nor too much unnecessary details.

"Simply travelling, then? I used to do that a lot when I was your age… Made a nice little fortune selling things as well." The man's eyes grew distant at the thought of money, and the conversation seemed to be at an abrupt end.

Garet glanced at the other trader, then found the courage to ask the more talkative one a question in order to prevent the awkward silence from gaining a full victory.

"So, what do you sell?"

Apparently the possibility to talk about his business held a special place in the trader's heart, as he instantly returned from his dream world and rather eerie fixed his eyes on Garet's.

"Everything!" His words echoed through the cave. "Spices, tools, various jewellery-" He glanced at Mia, then leaned a little closer to Garet and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Interested in buying something for your beautiful lady companion over there?"

Garet, red as a tomato, managed to get out of this potentially embarrassing situation with the diplomatically words of "Hell no!".

His friends, including Mia, burst out in close to uncontrollable laughter.

"I was going to say I don't have any money!" Garet angrily said in order to defend himself.

The merchant, chuckling a little himself, winked at Mia. "A word of advice from me, Miss ; I think you'll have much better luck with these other two gentlemen."

Mia smiled sadly. "I think I'll have more use of stone, wood and nails than jewels, mister."

As she saw the confused, or maybe curious, look on the merchant's face, she continued. "My hometown of Imil has lost its Sanctum, so we'll need to build a new one… A shame, really, it was one of the oldest buildings we had, together with the Lighthouse."The trader slowly nodded. "A shame indeed. May I ask what caused this? Was it too old? Worms in the woodwork? A real pain, I can tell you that much."

Mia turned to Isaac and the others first, then she continued. "No.. It was.. destroyed by someone."

The merchant raised his eyebrows when he heard this. "Destroyed? Such madness, I do hope this 'someone' got what he deserved."

"He will, in due time", Felix said, his first words in this conversation.

"I take it he's still roaming free?" The merchant sucked on his lower lip. "That doesn't sound safe.. I sure hope I won't run into this dangerous fellow."

Isaac smiled reassuringly. "We heard he went northeast from the crossroad at Bilibin, so if you stay away from there you should be safe."

"Capital! A thousand thanks to you for warning this foolish merchant."

The merchant's eyes suddenly noticed the swords hanging from their waists, and when he looked at them again they were sparkling with.. Something. "Say, as a token of my thanks, how about I give you a special discount on my.. 'special ware'?".

"I thought you said you'd lost everything?" Mia asked him.

The merchant chuckled. "Oh, but this is not something you sell to just anyone, therefore you don't keep it where anyone can steal it."

He lifted his cape and from its inside carefully untied a piece of cloth. Holding it in his hands he slowly unfolded it, revealing a long, slender rapier, it's blade sharp and glossy enough to reflect what little light there was in the cave, and the hilt formed in an extravagant and complex pattern of leaves and branches surrounding a sun.

"I can see you're all amazed at the sight of such master craftsmanship," the trader said. "Just look at the hilt, perfectly balanced to-"

Garet stopped listening shortly after his first look on the sword. He wasn't impressed by it at all; it was way too slim for his taste. He bet that under the fancy look it would break by one hit from a 'real' sword.

His gaze moved around the cave in boredom, until it again stopped at the cloaked, non-speaking trader. Garet had almost forgotten about him, as he never said a word and only stared at the ground, but this time his head was raised. Even though the cloak covered the man's entire face, Garet could swear that the man stared right at him, and that he had done so for a while.

"What!? Over 30.000 coins!? There's no way it's worth that much!" Isaac shouted, but it was oblivious to Garet. That man was really becoming creepy, since despite the fact Garet knew he was being watched, the man didn't look away even slightly. In turn, this caused Garet to really become annoyed.

"What are you looking at!?" he finally snapped.

Everyone instantly looked his way to see what was going on.

"Garet!" Mia said, "Don't be rude."

"I swear he's staring at me!"

Faster than light the talkative merchant slapped his companion right on the head.

"Don't stare at customers! You scare them, I tell you!"

"I wasn't scared..." Garet mumbled.

The cloaked merchant looked down at the ground again, while the other turned to Garet while shaking his head. "I'm terribly sorry for that. Really nice guy once you get to know him, but he's both dumb, mute, and ugly as few."

When those last words were spoken the other merchant rose his head again and looked at his companion for a few seconds, then slowly turned back to admire stones.

"Anyway," the merchant continued as he rose to his full length while folding the sword in its cloth, "it's been a nice chat. Too bad we never got to an agreement but that's business. A pleasure meeting you folks."

He bowed before them, and more or less dragged his companion off the ground and together they continued on through the cave.

"What an odd pair…" Felix muttered.

"You think?" Mia said. "Maybe it's a merchant thing? You two remember Hammet, right?"

Isaac and Garet both nodded as the painful memories returned.

"He wasn't a bad person… but I really didn't get his way of thinking," Garet said.

Felix decided to take a look outside. It was still raining and the wind was strong, but it was considerably calmer now. As the others checked the sky too, they all decided they had been waiting in this cave for far too long already, and with the worst of the storm gone, they headed out into the heavy rain.

Soaked clothes? They had faced worse.

**XX**

On the eastern end of the Goma cave, the duo exited the tunnels and enjoyed a greeting of fresh air and a star filled sky.

"So…" the merchant turned to his cloaked friend. "Northeast it is."


	6. Chapter 5: The Friend of My Enemy

_"Once Felix gets a idea into his head, he rarely changes his mind."_

_ /Alex_

The Healer silently snoozed in a chair next to Jenna's bed. He had done his best to cure her these last few days, but everything he had tried had been in vain. He did his best to feel surprised about this and keep going, but a small part of his subconscious persistently told him there was nothing that could be done to help her. Whenever he looked at the sick girl on the bed, he was always close to believe it. There were no symptoms whatsoever anymore; she just lay still, pale as a ghost, barely breathing. There were no rashes, wounds, fevers, spasms or anything, and it scared him. Why? Because of the same reason you ought to be worried if a wounded person can't feel the pain. When they do, and scream and shakes uncontrollably, at least you know they're still alive.

He wasn't alone in his worries, though. Jenna's parents had watched over their daughter all this time, barely leaving the room at all, anxiously awaiting the return of Isaac, Garet and Felix. Dora and Kyle had kept them company, but they had gone home by now. With a depressed sigh, they turned their eyes from their sick child and looked at the door, as if their son would come forth it if they did. A really foolish thought.

The door opened with a slam that abruptly woke up the old Healer, and Felix more or less rushed inside.

"How is Jenna?" He immediately asked them.

"Felix!!"

His parents hugged him, relieved that he had returned. From the stairs came the sound of running footsteps and soon Isaac, Garet and Mia entered the room as well, red in their faces from exertion.

"Damn it, Felix," Garet wheezed, "you didn't have to run like that!" His gaze then fell on the sleeping Jenna. "How is she?"

The Healer scrambled up from the chair and hurried towards them. "She's stable… I think." He turned to Mia and with a gesture from his hand, invited her to step forward.

Mia sat down on the chair next to the bed, everyone's eyes watching her. Dropping her bag, she placed a hand on Jenna's forehead and shivered at the coldness. Compared with what Felix had told her; of her burning fever and violent shudders, this ghastly serene state made it look like her life was fading away.

Shutting out any such thoughts, Mia took a deep breath and held her hands above Jenna.

"_How are you feeling?"_

_The answer came as a series of violent coughs from the old man in the bed._

"_He's been coughing for quite a while, now…"_

"_You'll feel better soon."_

_With those words, the blue-haired girl held out her hands. Isaac and Garet stared in astonishment as she was engulfed in the familiar glow of psynergy and glittering sparks fell from her palms down on the sick old man. They were at a loss of words at this sight; this young girl, bathing in the bright, blue light of psynergy, eyes closed, her serene face emitting a feeling of warmth and kindness, truly made them see, why a travelling merchant at the inn had called the healer of this town an angel. _

_The elderly man's cough soon calmed down and disappeared, but he was firmly stopped from leaving the bed when he tried to. Isaac didn't really know what to think. They'd always thought adepts only existed in Vale, then they'd met Ivan, and now there was one here as well? And when he thought about it, she eerily reminded him of one from Saturos and Menardi's group…_

_The girl, seemingly finished with her duties here, was about to leave when she noticed her unseen audience._

"_Who are you?" She asked them._

Distant memories surfaced as they watched Mia's work, although dulled by the fact they by now were used to this sight. After a while Mia stopped and her psynergy subsided. The Healer, fascinated by the dazzling display of such, to him, unusual psynergy, hurried forward to check up on Jenna.

It was not what he expected.

"She's..", he began hesitantly, ".. her breathings slightly better, but other than that…"

Jenna was still as unconscious and pale as before. Seeing this, Felix burrowed his nails in his palms, not angry at Mia, but at the one who'd caused this.

"Don't worry," Mia ensured them when she saw the distressed faces behind her. She grabbed and untied the bottle from her belt, removed the cork and gently lifted Jenna's head. "This will definitely help her."

Carefully she poured the Hermes Water into Jenna's mouth, making sure she was swallowing everything safely.

Even so, it was not easy to make an unconscious person drink, but this time they were happy when the person in question suddenly rose to spit out the water in rough, irregular coughs. Jenna gasped for air in between, even though her sore throat ached terribly. However, she become more concerned with the reason as to why everyone had gathered in this room and were shouting with joy as they tried to hug her.

"What's this about?" she shouted from between the arms of her tearful parents. Then, when everything returned to her memory, she almost jumped out of bed in anger and frustration. "Where is he!? What happened to him!?" Then she noticed a person she hadn't seen for a while, and certainly hadn't expected to see here. "And why is Mia here?"

Felix put his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from getting up, while telling her of what had occurred while she'd been unconscious.

"He managed to get away", he said at the end," but don't worry, we'll hunt him down. You stay here and rest."

"What?" Jenna stared at them. "I feel fine now! There's nothing wrong with me anymore."

"Jenna," her mother insisted, "you've been ill until now. Please, listen to your brother."

"I'm telling you I'm alright!" Wrestling herself free Jenna jumped to her feet. "Look!! I want to make that guy pay as much as you do, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from going with you!"

The next second Jenna's gaze grew hollow and she sank on her knees, coughing violently and painfully.

"Jenna!!" Everyone shouted.

**QQ**

* * *

The morning air was still damp from the heavy rain, sending chills down Isaac's spine as he made his way to the town's graveyard. Or well, what was meant to be the new graveyard, as only one stone had so far been placed on this hill. He felt terrible; he'd barely been able to get any sleep at all this night and for a good reason too. While Jenna had slowly calmed down and been able to rest, she had still been noticeably ill. No matter how hard he had tried, this fact refused to let him fall asleep by constantly reminding him of it.

As he reached the top of the hill and was greeted by the silent sight of the tombstone, he sighed and massaged his tired eyes. Nothing made any sense anymore. He had no idea what was going, why this had happened, what was wrong with Jenna, why they couldn't help her… It bothered him endlessly. And with one look at the tombstone, Isaac once again realized how he missed their old mentor.

"You're up early."

Isaac turned and saw Mia as she, too, walked up the hill.

"I couldn't sleep," he told her.

She reached him and, seeing where his attention was, looked down at the grave as well. "I'm sorry to hear he passed away," she said.

None of them said anything for a while, but Mia, watching Isaac from the corner of her eyes, waited patiently.

As expected, Isaac finally turned to her. "You know, I always thought Kraden would be around to tell us everything we needed to know. He was our mentor ever since he arrived in Vale. He taught us how to read, write, and understand psynergy, even more than our Healer could ever do."

Isaac heard himself laugh. "It's funny every time I think about it. He knew more about psynergy than anyone in Vale, a village of adepts, even though he couldn't use it himself. And when we finally caught up with him, Felix and Jenna in Contigo, it was he that explained everything to us, and of how wrong we'd been."

Mia let out a laugh too. "Yes, I remember that. He seemed like a really lively and wise old man." She stopped to think for a moment. "Didn't he give you four homework the day after?"

Isaac paled and covered his eyes. "Don't remind me… We were out saving the world and he insisted on teaching us!"

He was silent for a while after that. Mia noticed how he began to turn to look at her, then stopped half ways and instead looked up at the cloudy sky.

"I visited him a few days before he…" Isaac took a deep breath to remove the heavy feeling in his chest. "He'd been exhausted for weeks, not able to either speak or eat by himself… Then, just as I was helping him back to bed, he grabbed my arm and looked me right in the eyes."

Isaac sighed. "He was his old self again, for a while… He said he believed in us, how we would be able to keep Weyard safe, just as the Wise One wanted us to. Then he told me that he - and he wanted me to have all his books and everything he wrote about psynergy and Alchemy…"

"Sounds like he had a lot of trust in you."

"He did. He really did." He tapped his foot for a while, then turned and slowly began to walk away. "We probably should go back now."

"If you say so", Mia said and quickly fell in next to him.

As they reached the foot of the hill, Isaac all of a sudden said "Why do you think Kraden would want me to have all those books?"

Mia thought for a few seconds. It was quite obvious, really. "Well, you've been the one leading us all this time, it's only natural he'd want someone responsible to take care of his work."

"Me? Leading?" Isaac said with doubt. "What about Felix? He's been much more of a leader than I've been."

Mia nodded slightly. "That's true, we have all counted on you two in everything we've been through. But… Why are you going after this man?"

Isaac stopped dead in his tracks. Why was she asking him that? He looked at her, waiting to hear something more from her, but Mia didn't say anything else this time either.

"Why wouldn't I?" He finally said. "He's hurt Jenna! He attacked both Vale and Imil and who knows why! Whatever it is, we've got to stop him!"

"Did you hear yourself?" Mia giggled.

The fact that Isaac did not understand what she meant was plain obvious.

"We all think the same, but you", she poked Isaac, "you truly mean what you say. You want to help everyone and do everything in your power to make it so. Some may just do it out of personal feelings… but not you. And whatever you do, you take responsibility for it. Even if you realize everything you've struggled for has been wrong, you adapt to correct it."

"And that, Isaac, is why everyone trusts you so much, and why Kraden trusted you above everyone else". Mia smiled. "Feeling better?"

Truth to be told, not really. Mia's words made a lot of sense, yet he… Well, he shouldn't bother her anymore, and it did actually feel good to hear what she had to say.

"Yeah, I do", he said, ignoring the feeling that he was lying. "Thanks, Mia. It's great to have friends like you."

**QQ**

* * *

The atmosphere could hardly be any more awkward; for the second time in a much too short time span, they were leaving Vale again, without having accomplished anything.

They were standing outside the inn with their families, to say goodbye. For Isaac and Garet, it was an unpleasant reminder of when the two of them first left Vale. Unpleasant in that back then, it had been a much more optimistic mood; they knew what they were doing and why, and that had made it all seem so simple. This time, they knew next to nothing.

Isaac's mother Dora released him from her long hug, but if he thought he was given a moment to speak he was wrong, as he was soon stuck in his father's, arms.

"We'll be fine", he repeated, once more, in vain.

"You can't expect us not to worry, Isaac", Kyle told him. "What you're doing is dangerous, no matter how you look at it."

Dora massaged her eyes as she spoke. "When you left for Imil I prayed that you would return, that you wouldn't have to leave on such a journey again."

"We won't", Isaac reassured his mother. "As soon as we find him, we'll stop him and make him tell us how to cure Jenna. We won't have to do anything-"

The sadness in her eyes silenced Isaac. "That's what I wanted to believe back then, but you were gone for so long…" She immediately hugged her son tightly. "Promise me you'll be careful and come home soon!"

From across his parents' shoulders, Felix watched Isaac's touching farewell and Garet's slightly less touching farewell. It was hard to get tears in your eyes when the farewell in question mostly was about the family scolding their son for being careless with food. A concern which, from what he'd seen and experienced, was valid.

"Felix? Are you listening to us?"

Felix looked back at his parents. "I'm sorry?"

A sigh escaped his father's lips. "We were telling you we know how angry you are, but please, don't do anything reckless. What good would it bring us if you got hurt?"

"When have I ever done anything reckless?" Felix smiled confidently.

His parents glared at him. "You jumped off a-"

Felix raised his hands in defeat. It wouldn't really matter what he said anyhow; parents will always worry, that's how things are.

With a grumpy look on his face Garet walked over to him, followed by his grandfather.

"Are we ready to leave now?" he asked.

"Just one more thing", Felix said and turned to the aged mayor. "Have you done as I asked?"

The mayor nodded. "Yes, yes, I have send a messenger to warn Kalay and Tolbi of this man." A nearly toothless grin parted his white beard. "But I don't think it will be necessary. You youngsters are strong, you will catch him before that!"

Their plan was simple; they'd follow the trail east and catch up with this Cervic. If they didn't find him there, at least the people of Kalay and Tolbi knew they should keep an eye out for him and not try to interfere. And he'd damn himself if he let that bastard get away this time.

There was a sudden ruckus coming from inside the inn. A pale, ill-looking Jenna burst out through the door, with the bewildered and protesting Elder following her.

Felix was instantly beside her and grabbed her arm firmly. "´Jenna! Why are you out here? You must rest!"

Amazingly, Jenna managed to get herself free from her brother. "So I'm not even allowed to say goodbye to you all?" She told him angrily and strode forward towards Isaac and Garet.

"Isaac, I-"

Whatever she were about to say was interrupted by a nasty series of coughs, and she hesitantly accepted the blanket the Elder determinedly put around her shoulders.

"You really should be resting in your condition, Jenna", Garet tried to tell her, but got a nasty glare from Jenna.

"Oh please, I'm alive, am I not? You should worry about not eating any more bad tuna again."

Garet's cheeks flared to the sound of badly hidden giggles from his family. "Who told you!? That happened once!"

Jenna shook her head in contempt. "As I tried to tell you Isaac; be careful, will you?"

"When have I ever done anything reckless?" Isaac chuckled confidently.

Mia managed to restrain a fired up Spritz just in time to prevent a awkward outburst of insults.

"Don't you worry, Jenna", Isaac continued, "we'll make sure you'll be cured, no matter what, right everyone?"

A unified nod from his three friends proved his statement. A worried sigh from Jenna proved it was not enough to relieve her. "That's what troubling me. I should be with you. If you get hurt while trying to stop him, because of me, I…"

As her voice trailed off, she tightly hugged Isaac, taking him completely by surprise. "Promise me you'll be careful."

As Isaac's mind was finished processing what in the world had just happened, he returned the hug and gave her a friendly pat on the back. "Of course we will", he said and let her go. "Alright, let's hurry up and get moving."

As their families followed them to the town gate, last farewells were said between family members.

And friends.

"Jenna", Garet decided to say, after much hesitiation, "I… I want you to know that-"

As he looked at her standing there, waiting for whatever it was he was going to tell her this time, words flew around in his head like flies. And just like flies, they were near impossible to catch.

"-…I'll be careful as well, so promise me you'll be careful too, alright?"

Jenna let out a hearty laugh and opened her mouth as if to say something witty, however, she closed it again, and instead gave him a tired, yet warm smile. "I will, Garet. Now off with you!"

With great effort, Garet managed to smile as well, then immediately rushed off to meet with the others, who were already waiting for him. As they were leaving Vale once more, all Garet could do was curse himself.

**QQ**

* * *

"You there! Halt! By the order of Lord McCoy, we-"

"Don't care, don't bother", Felix told them off as their group walked straight right pass the guards and off on the road to Kolima Village.

Astonished, the guards gazed at them until they disappeared beyond the horizon.

"Such rudeness!"

"I say, if I hadn't been taken by surprise I would have taken that scarf of his and shoved it up his-"

**QQ**

* * *

It was nightfall when they finally reached the tree stump houses of Kolima Village. Only a few lights were offering some illumination in the darkness, most of them coming from the inn. At this hour there were no villagers outside, although, as they came closer and closer to the inn, the sounds escaping the stump told them it wasn't running low on customers. They entered the inn, and true, there were a good amount of lumberjacks from Bilibin eating and chattering around the tables. The innkeeper himself was too busy serving his guests their food and drinks and generally act the role of a good host to notice Isaac and the others, until he coincidently happened to run past them.

"Wait, I recognize that scarf", he said and backtracked his last steps. "Oh my, it's you! Our saviours!"

"Good to see you again", Isaac embarrassingly said through the chorus of cheers and applauses.

"Welcome to my humble inn!" he bellowed. "Are you in need of anything? Rest? Something to eat? Free of charge, of course!"

They'd been travelling for a long time now, so they were in need of both, which delighted the innkeeper. He immediately ran off to a nearby, already occupied table. That predicament was easily solved by more or less shoving away those guests, to Isaac and the others' shock.

"Wait", Isaac began, "there is no need to-"

"Bah, do not worry about it, friend", one of the lumberjacks said, and his merry voice told them he'd probably had one drink to much. "You fellows saved our life! Besides, we're lumberjacks, it's ok! And we should probably be going already, right lads?"

His comrades let out a supportive hiccup.

"You heard my lads! It's time to hit the sack! We need to sleep all night so we can work all day tomorrow!"

Awkwardly Isaac and the others sat down at the now unoccupied table, and the innkeeper left them with the promise that he would serve them the best food the inn had.

"Roots?" Garet suggested after the innkeeper had left, to everyone's amusement.

"As long as it's not leaves", Felix smirked.

Mia looked around the crowded inn. "Seems like things have gone well since we left".

"Yeah, you're right", Isaac said once he noticed it as well.

Felix's curiosity awoke. "Yes, didn't you tell us you were almost turned into trees in this place?"

Isaac, Garet and Mia shivered at the unpleasant memory.

"I was so glad we managed to help everyone in the end", Mia sighed in relief, and, as the innkeeper returned with a plate full of bowls of hot soup, took the moment to ask him just how things had been between the village and Tret these last years.

"Oh, it's been terrific", the innkeeper grinned as he served them the food. "We reached an agreement with Tret to only cut down certain trees or certain parts of the forest, and only as much so it just covered what we needed."

The innkeeper stopped handing out the food for a moment, and got a pondering look on his face."Strange thing is, recently some of the lumberjacks have come back claiming trees they cut down had grown back the next morning… " He shrugged and continued with his work.

As he wished them a enjoyable meal and was about to tend to the remaining lumberjacks, he stopped in his tracks as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Pardon me for wondering", he said, "but why do we have the pleasure of seeing you here in Kolima again?"

"We're just travelling again", Isaac answered, and suddenly remembered something himself. "Oh yes, have you seen a odd man around here recently? Black-haired, amber eyes, wearing armour and two swords?"

The innkeeper bit his lip. "I recall someone else asking me that, and I believe one of the lumberjacks had seen a man like that heading east… But nothing other than that, I'm afraid."

Isaac nodded and thanked the innkeeper. A sense of optimism fell upon all four of them, as it seemed they were on the right track after all.

"Anyhow", the innkeeper continued, "are you continuing east?"

That's usually a very normal question, yet something in his voice got Isaac's attention. "Yes. Is something the matter."

The innkeeper coughed uncomfortably. "Well, you see, a few days ago we found a young man completely lost in the forest. He says he's heading east, but doesn't seem to be from around here, and he asked me if I could find some guide to help him. I was just wondering if you… possibly…"

Felix ended any chance for a discussion by shaking his head and, with a firm voice, say "We're too busy to be playing guides, I'm afraid."

The innkeeper nodded, and left them alone once more.

"That sounded a bit harsh…" Mia said.

Felix shrugged off any sense of guilt. "We're after Cervic and that's all. We don't have time for such things. Anyhow… it seems we have a chance to catch up with him."

Garet paused eating his soup to give Felix a quick thumbs up, then returned to the quest of filling his stomach.

Isaac, on the other hand, were starting to develop some serious wrinkles on his forehead, and said the question that had been nagging on their minds ever since day one; "Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

His three friends shook their head, and the atmosphere swiftly deteriorated. Even as he tried to concentrate on enjoying his meal, Isaac couldn't stop thinking on why all this were happening. He knew nothing. At least when he was after the elemental stars he knew why he was doing it. It had been false, yes, but at least it had been a solid ground to stand on. If this, all this, was because Alchemy had been restored, then what should he do? What would happen in the future?

"I'll tell you; we're taking your soup if you don't want it!"

Knowing very well that Flint and the others were fully capable of implementing that threat, Isaac shut away all his thoughts and rapidly tried to finish his bowl.

**QQ**

* * *

From the corner of his eyes, Felix saw the innkeeper prepare another bowl of food and deliver it to a room near their table. Paying no mind to it, Felix continued eating and asking Mia and Garet about their strange encounter with Tret.

"So, you were saved by some 'blue field of psynergy'?" He sniggered. "And it's never happened to you again after that?"

Garet surly crossed his arms. "Makes me wonder why it couldn't have helped us all the other times we were in mortal danger. Lazy psynergy…"

Felix grinned. That story was just hilarious.

"Oh, I see. Nonetheless, thank you so much for your help, kind sir."

Felix looked around the table. That hadn't sounded like any of his friends. Then he noticed the door to the room the innkeeper went into was still open. Ah, of course, it must've come from there.

"Are you sure?" the innkeeper's voice said. "There might come someone eventually.."

Felix knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping. But, seeing as how his friends had began to talk about their memories from this place and he didn't have any to share, he had nothing better to do. Besides, it was probably a lesser sin than, say, asking Sheba to read the minds of simple townspeople. Ah, memories…

"I thank you for your kind offer, sir, but I am in due hurry."

He wasn't the only one, Felix thought, and wished the night would be over quickly so they could continue their pursuit.

The innkeeper walked out of the room, followed by its occupant carrying a large sack on his back. From the look of it all, Felix assumed that was the lost traveller the innkeeper had told them about. He eyed their backs as they went to the desk. Tough luck, he thought as he became aware of the real size of the sack.

The traveller dropped it to the floor.

Felix sprung up. It wasn't Cervic. Sure, the clothes were all coloured black, but they consisted of simple clothing and a small cloak. And sure, his hair, although slightly longer, was just as pitch-black as Cervic's, but he was unquestionably younger, probably their age, and with a much gentler face.

The undeniable fact, however, was that when the man turned around and allowed Felix to view him properly, Felix instantly saw the medallion hanging around his neck. A medallion, consisting of three silver circles.

"What is it, Felix?" Isaac began to ask, but then he too found the cause of Felix's sudden aura of fury.

For a short moment they all stared at the man, then, before anyone could stop him, Felix was up from his char and in long strides headed straight for the reception desk.

There, he immediately grabbed the unknowing man's shoulder.

"Hello there", Felix greeted friendly and smiled, but still managed to startle him. "I heard you were a little lost?"

The startled man turned to face Felix, eyes wide open.

"Y-yes, that is true, sir", he said when he calmed down. "I am indeed unfamiliar with these parts of Weyard, and have already gotten myself lost too many times."

Felix nodded. "Well, in that case, since you apparently are heading east and we're heading east as well, how about coming along with us?"

The innkeeper stared at Felix, opened his mouth as if to point out a certain fact, closed it again when he realized he failed to understand just what in the world was going on here, and in the end he just shook his head and headed back to the kitchen.

The man on the other hand suddenly got a flash of light and hope in his eyes when he heard Felix's proposal. "Oh, I can't possibly thank you enough, sir!" he eccentrically said and grabbed Felix's hand in a firm double-handed handshake. "I don't know what I would have done had I been forced to wander around aimlessly yet again!"

Felix got free from the handshake and, still smiling, he led them to their table, where his friends couldn't stop staring at him. Felix, giving them all a angry sneer before returning to looking friendly like, swept his arm in front of them.

"These are my friends I travel with. This is Isaac-"

The black-haired man bowed. "Pleased to meet you, sir."

Felix stared at the man. "Erhm.. This is Garet-"

"Pleased to meet you, sir."

"… And this is Mia."

"Pleased to meet you, miss."

The man bowed for a fourth time. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ferru."

Isaac and Garet looked at each other quickly, then muttered something resembling a greeting. Mia, on the other hand, played it much cooler than they and managed to smile and offer a just as polite greeting. On second thought, she probably wasn't playing. "Pleased to meet you too, Ferru."

Garet faked a cough. "So, why are you travelling east?" he asked as innocently as possible.

The man now known as Ferru grabbed a nearby free chair and sat down at their table. "It is really shameful", he said and shook his head. "I am a servant, and was travelling here with my master, when he suddenly disappeared. My master's name is Cervic, have by any chance met him?"

Isaac nearly spat out the last spoon of soup. Felix, on the other hand, simply shook his head and said they hadn't.

Ferru let out a deep sigh. "I had been looking for him for days before I found out he had headed this way… Only to get lost in a forest. Once more, let me offer my sincerest thanks for helping me with my predicament."

Felix patted him on the back. "Believe me, the pleasure is all ours."

* * *

**Author:**** Holy Crab! It's been, what, six months or something? *sigh* My laziness distracted me yet again... with some help from the incredibly tough conversation between Isaac and Mia. You see, I can be very picky with what I'm writing. I want it to be believable, or at the very least acceptable, which is even harder when writing a fanfic with already established characters. It can take me hours to write a single page because of that. The conversation scared me off until last week, when I finally managed to sit down and write a satisfying end to it.**

**What else... oh yes, Jenna gave Isaac a hug... I can hear shippers squeling and raging.**


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